After an uneventful night, the battalion headquarters held a meeting the next day. Although Tan Shuangxi kept yawning, he had to attend. This meeting was an "enlarged meeting" with all officers and sergeants present. As Sergeant Ma said, the meeting was announced first.
The entire battalion was ordered to rest for three months and the troops were about to reorganize. Therefore, there will be more personnel transfers.
"Make sure your mailing address is valid. New orders may be sent at any time."
At the same time, the application conditions for voluntary discharge were announced. Tan Shuangxi read a total of three items: a total of twenty-four months of overseas deployment during the service period; a total of three combat injuries; and an age of over thirty-five.
"In addition to these three items, if your family really has difficulties and needs retirement care, you can also submit an application. The Political Department of the General Staff will be responsible for review. Each matter will be discussed." Lin Fu added.
Ma Shi naturally met the standard. In fact, after careful calculation, many people in the camp were qualified. Tan Shuangxi knew that he could apply if he wanted to withdraw this time. However, he was not willing to give up. He did not want to have a family business like Ma Shi.
, although at his level, as long as he obtains a Class B diploma, he is likely to be sent to the local government to become a "cadre" or something. But the salary and benefits are not as good as those in the army. Especially this time in the mainland strategy, in addition to the original military salary, the army
In addition, an additional "wartime allowance" was issued, and the income was several times what it was when he was stationed in the country.
After the meeting, Tan Shuangxi originally wanted to go back to the platoon to make arrangements, but was stopped by the battalion commander and held a small meeting. The attendees were specially selected sergeants from each company.
This time, it was Lin Fu who presided over the meeting, but the real protagonist was an officer from the Political Department of the General Staff who he did not know. The content of the meeting was very simple: sergeants worked in pairs to deliver death notices and relics to the homes of fallen soldiers in the company.
.
"This is a very important job and may take up a lot of your time. I hope that everyone will adhere to the principles of patience and carefulness and deliver the relics and notices one by one to show humanistic care..."
Tan Shuangxi didn't understand the second half of what the officer said about humanistic care. He was completely confused.
"It's difficult!" Tan Shuangxi repeated this sentence no longer knowing how many times. He subconsciously took out the cigarette in his pocket, and the vibration under his butt suddenly made him realize that he was on the urban railway - smoking is prohibited on the train.
He retracted his hand again.
Since getting in the car, he has read the sentences in the mission manual hundreds of times, but he still can't figure out how to say: "Your son/husband is dead."
"It's difficult!" Tan Shuangxi's temporary partner, Sergeant Zhang Laicai, also muttered, "What kind of mission is this!"
Zhang Laicai is the "platoon sergeant" of his platoon, so he can't escape this job. His complaint is not just because the task is difficult to complete, but the key is that it also delays the "good things". He was already with a "yellow ticket" who he had a good relationship with before.
"We made an appointment to have a meal in Dongmen City in the evening, and then go to Wushan together. After accepting this job, we can't go to Wushan, and we have to cover the entire Lingao, which will take at least two or three days. Starting from the camp gate
Whispering.
"The mission is the mission, what's there to say." Although Tan Shuangxi was also full of complaints, he really looked down on Zhang Laicai's eagerness to find a woman.
Zhang Laicai no longer muttered words like "delaying things", but was a little worried. He glanced at the two bulging military backpacks placed on the luggage rack, lowered his voice and said to Tan Shuangxi: "Old Tan, what's going on here?"
There are several who have nothing but the 'Medal of Glory', and the pension can only be based on the lowest one. Will the family members have any objections and cause trouble?"
"Trouble?" Tan Shuangxi never thought in this direction and did not react. Yes, there is such a difficult problem. He couldn't help but take off his military cap and scratched the top of his head several times.
Why should we take on such an unlucky task? Not to mention the bad luck, the main reason is that we can't speak. This task is even more difficult than attacking the hilltop position.
"That's not the case. When you are a soldier fighting, life or death is your destiny, so what's the point of making a fuss. Do they dare to make a fuss in the Ming Dynasty?"
"Isn't this the Ming Dynasty? If family members are dissatisfied, they can't let him speak out, right?"
"But what's the use of making trouble with us."
"It's not called making trouble, it's called having opinions at most." Tan Shuangxi warned, "Be careful with your words! If family members have opinions, we just say a few words of comfort. If you say anything unpleasant, just ignore it - people always say
A relative has died, so please be patient."
"I understand this. This is not a policy and it was not decided by us."
"Just understand this. We went to deliver the relics to execute orders, not to solve problems." Tan Shuangxi said, "If you have any objections, we can just listen and report them back."
"Oh, what a wonderful thing it is to take a vacation." Zhang Youcai began to sigh again, "How frustrating it is!"
Tan Shuangxi ignored him and looked at the empty seat on the opposite side of the carriage. It was already past the morning rush hour. Everyone was working, farming and going to school. Except for the two of them, there were only a few vendors and odd jobs. There was a hawker huddled in the carriage.
He was dozing off in one corner, with the straw hat on his face swaying with the swing of the carriage. He almost fell off several times, but was pushed up again by him.
"Military straw hat, Lingao Rattan Ware Factory, one dollar and two cents exchange coupon...bastard! What are you thinking, why do you have these strange thoughts? Concentrate and think about what to say later... No, it's Cheng
The high imitation version from Mai Woodware Factory only costs eighty-five...bastard..."
The two got off the bus at Fushan Station near the Lingao-Chengmai border. There were eleven death notices to be sent, and they were distributed in every corner of Lingao. Among them were places like Dongmen City and Bobu Town.
In the bustling thoroughfares, there are also villages and farms whose names I have never heard of.
He and Zhang Laicai spent half a day together before setting off, and decided to start from Fushan Town in the east of the county and complete the delivery in two days.
The first place is called Zhongxing Village. The name of the village was given by the elders. As China was rejuvenating, the locals did not dare to be so bold in naming. Since the elders got the name of the village, this village is naturally an immigrant village. Most of them are engines.
During the operation, refugees were transported from Shandong, and then refugees transported from Shandong Station, Jiangnan Station, Wuhan Station and other places were successively resettled. There were also some spontaneous immigrants. In a few years, it has a population of more than 1,000
It's a big village.
As soon as they entered the village, according to the rules, they first asked the village chief to understand the situation. In fact, the only people they wanted to visit were Guo Dapeng's parents.
"How could he join the army if he only had his parents at home?" Tan Shuangxi was a little confused, because Guo Dapeng was drafted into the army before the mainland was conquered. At that time, the recruitment system was "one out of three, two out of five". If Guo Dapeng was an only child, he would not be eligible for conscription.
"He used to have an older brother who thought he couldn't make money by farming, so he went to Nanyang with some oil company to recruit workers. It's been two years since he left, and he only replies to letters every three to five months." The village chief led the way in a nonchalant manner.
"The old couple also has a daughter. She was originally married in this village. Last year, the man went to Qiongnan to set up a plantation, and the daughter followed him. They are the only ones left in the village, alas!"
"How is his family's financial situation?"
"It's not bad, I don't have to worry about food and drink." The village chief said, "Both sons have sent money back. My daughter used to send food and clothing every now and then. After moving, she also sent things back."
After hearing this, the two of them felt a little relieved. Because Guo Dapeng was the fallen soldier who Zhang Youcai said had "only one medal of glory". The Guo family were relatively old and had other children at home to support them, so they thought they would not cause trouble.
To be on the safe side, the village chief and militia captain accompanied him to Guo Dapeng's house.
The Guo family's house is on the edge of the village. It is a three-room tile-roofed house built by the Senate for the immigrants. It has white walls and black tiles, and a fence of fast-growing trees. There is a big yellow dog lying in the yard. It barked when a stranger came in.
The village chief scolded him before he became quiet.
The door was unlocked, but there was no one inside. The furnishings inside the house were simple and plain. Sunlight streamed in from the clean small windows, making the house warm and bright.
"I'm probably not at home. Most of them have gone to the fields now." The village chief said, "Let's go to the fields to look for them."
Along the slowly flowing river under the shade of green trees, we found the vegetable garden. The vegetable plot is very large. The village chief said that it is dedicated to growing vegetables for Tianchu Food Factory and Lingao Cannery. Growing vegetables is a delicate job.
But the labor intensity is relatively light. When the Guo family doesn’t have strong labor force, they just do some gardening work.
From the shelves built for cucumbers and tomatoes, Tan Shuangxi could distinguish two figures wrapped in white towels. They squatted among the green leaves, quietly doing farm work. The sound of footsteps made the old man and the old lady turn around.
, seeing the village chief and militia captain bringing two unfamiliar Fubo sergeants, the old man stood up with difficulty, as if he had a premonition of something, and his slender eyes looked directly at the military uniforms of Tan Shuangxi and Tan Shuangxi.
"This is it." the militia captain said softly.
"It's time to say something." Tan Shuangxi's head was spinning rapidly, but he couldn't say a word. He felt Zhang Laicai touch his leg, and he opened his mouth, but no words came out.
The old lady also stood up. She looked at this group of ominous people with wide eyes, as if she wanted to say something.
"Black egg... Dapeng?" the old man pulled down the towel on his head and wiped the sweat from his head and asked in a low voice. His new language was good, with a slight Shandong accent, which reminded Tan Shuangxi of several northern soldiers under his command.
Tan Shuangxi saluted reflexively, then quickly took off his hat and said with difficulty: "Guo Dapeng, he, he was killed in battle!" Then he remembered something.
The old man paused, as if he didn't understand what death in battle meant. Suddenly his whole body shook. He stretched out his two hands and grasped in the air, as if he wanted to grab something. The village chief quickly went up to help him, and the old man waved his hand.
He said: "It's okay, I'm just dizzy for a moment, an old problem." He stayed at the same place for a long time, then nodded to the sergeants and said: "It's so far away, it's hard for the two bosses to come, let's sit at home.