Chapter 3 Letter.

After Guo Yuanshuai and his group left, Zhou Qiang took Xu Ge to familiarize themselves with the environment of the military station.

In Xu Ge's opinion, the layout here is similar to that of the Sanshili Barracks Military Station. There are also dining areas and accommodation areas specially provided for passing troops. However, Zhou Qiang said that generally no troops would choose to stay here.

The most important facility in the entire military station is the boiler. Zhou Qiang instructed Xu Ge to check the boiler water temperature every day and add water on time.

Once the boiler room stops functioning, the entire Sweetwater Marine Station will turn into an ice cave!

"Can you drive?"

Zhou Qiang asked, pointing to an old military pickup truck in the garage.

Xu Ge nodded: "Yes."

"Good!"

Zhou Qiang brought Xu Ge back to the dormitory, and Baihu had already fallen asleep on the floor under the heating.

There was a telephone, radio and map on the table, and a complete set of maintenance tools under the table.

"Bring the map over here." Zhou Qiang sat on the bed, took out his phone, added Xu Ge's contact information, and said, "Now let me tell you about the area that our military station is responsible for."

"We are mainly responsible for the communication lines within 150 kilometers of the surrounding area. The superiors require that each military station patrol the area of ​​responsibility every day, but our situation here is special, so two trips a week are sufficient."

"Especially in weather like this, if no one calls to report the repairs, we can just stay in the station."

Then Zhou Qiang explained in detail all the matters that needed attention in the military station, and Xu Ge wrote them all down silently.

"Oh, by the way, see that room by the door? There are a few empty beds in it."

"Yeah, I see."

Zhou Qiang: "That place is specially prepared for passing tourists and drivers. A bed costs 40 yuan. If someone wants to buy instant noodles, it costs 10 yuan for boiled water and noodles."

Xu Ge glanced at Zhou Qiang and said, "Isn't this just like running a hotel? Why are you charging money?"

Zhou Qiang took out a cigarette and gave one to Xu Ge. He saw Xu Ge took out a lighter and was waiting for him to light it for him. Unexpectedly, this guy lit the cigarette for himself first and then put the lighter back in his pocket.

Zhou Qiang: ...

Thinking of Guo Yuanshuai's explanation, Zhou Qiang sighed inwardly, took out his lighter and lit it, saying, "Xiao Xu, you are still young and have little experience. You don't understand human nature yet."

Xu Ge didn't understand: "What do you mean?"

"Do you really think I want to get rich with those few dozen yuan? The instant noodles and water were brought up from the foot of the mountain with great difficulty. The real cost is more than 10 yuan! Besides, how many times a year can you meet someone who comes to stay overnight?"

Zhou Qiang casually flicked the ash onto the ground. Xu Ge frowned and found a disposable cup to use as an ashtray.

Seeing that the other party cared so much about housekeeping, Zhou Qiang smiled and continued, "People are actually very strange. If you take their money, they won't say anything, but if you do it for free, they will immediately feel that you owe them something. They can avoid a lot of trouble by charging a few dozen yuan."

"I still don't understand."

"It doesn't matter if you don't understand, just do as I say!"

"Um!"

Xu Ge looked at the radio and phone on the table and asked, "Is the Tianshui Marine Station also part of the Wolf Brigade?"

Zhou Qiang shook his head: "Of course not, all the military depots are logistics departments, and the Wolf Brigade is a frontline combat unit, they are not adjacent."

"Where do we belong then?"

"All the military stations along the national highway all the way to the Shiquan River are under the jurisdiction of the Yecheng General Military Station. We report any matters to the General Station, which is directly under the command of the group army."

Xu Ge came up with the answer based on his own understanding: "So I belong to the 76th Army now?"

Zhou Qiang was stunned for a moment: "You are right."

. . .

. . .

The days that followed were relatively dull. Xu Ge had nothing to do in the military station every day. Sometimes when he was bored, he would take Baihu for a walk around the area.

But it was too cold outside and he couldn't stay there for too long. Many times, Baihu was the first to be unable to bear the cold and urged him to go back.

There was one thing that puzzled Xu Ge. When he was sitting in the dormitory in a daze, Baihu always liked to come and harass him.

To be precise, this guy always likes to be a jerk.

First, it barked a few times at Xu Ge to attract his attention, and then began to sit down and squat on the ground, sometimes rolling around.

Xu Ge ignored him, so Baihu kept whipping him with its tail.

At first Xu Ge thought that this guy wanted to go out and play, or wanted him to scratch him, but after trying a few times, he found that Baihu's purpose didn't seem to be that.

One time, when Baihu was being naughty again, Zhou Qiang was there too. Xu Ge was annoyed by this guy: "Baihu, if you keep being naughty like this, I will lock you outside and let you freeze!"

"Woo-woof!"

The white tiger jumped, danced, and rolled around, and even hit Xu Ge's calf with its head.

Zhou Qiang said uncertainly: "Baihu is a military dog. Maybe he can't sit still and wants to train?"

Xu Ge was stunned: "Training? I don't know how to train!"

White Tiger: "Woof!"

Zhou Qiang shook his head helplessly: "There's nothing I can do. I don't know how to do it either. I can only wait for your squad leader and the others to come and take it away."

As for eating, Zhou Qiang has never cooked noodles since he discovered that Xu Ge can cook.

In order to free up time for Xu Ge to cook, he even took the initiative to take charge of the inspection and maintenance of the boiler room in the station.

You know, when he and Xiao Cao were in the mountains before, they ate so much noodles that they vomited.

During this period, Xu Ge also followed Zhou Qiang out to maintain the lines twice. Both times, they drove the car to the location of the fault and climbed up the electric pole to replace the cable, which was quite simple.

Zhou Qiang found that Xu Ge learned things very quickly. He just taught him a little, but Xu Ge climbed the pole faster than him the second time!

This made Zhou Qiang sigh again in his heart, what a good seedling!

January soon arrived and there were several heavy snowfalls at the foot of the mountain, completely closing the mountain.

Fortunately, there are a lot of supplies in the military station, so there is no need to worry about supply problems. The only problem that needs to be solved is water.

Not only the drinking water for two people and a dog, but also the consumption in the boiler room.

Early that morning, Zhou Qiang filled up the pickup truck with gas and started it to warm it up.

After breakfast, the two men moved the five large barrels at the canteen entrance to the car. Zhou Qiang also found other tools such as a water pump and a hammer. After everything was ready, they set out to fetch water.

"Are we going down the mountain?" Xu Ge asked after he carried Baihu to the passenger seat and closed the car door.

Zhou Qiang shook his head: "The road down the mountain is blocked by heavy snow. We can't go down. Let's go to Quanshui Lake, which is not far from here."

Xu Ge tilted his head and thought for a moment, then asked curiously, "Where is Quanshui Lake? Why haven't I heard of it?"

"Quanshui Lake is the Dead Man's Valley. You must have heard of it, right?" Zhou Qiang said with a smile.

Xu Ge suddenly realized: "I've heard of it!"

Dead Man's Ditch is a relatively famous place on this line. It is said that the name comes from the fact that so many people died there!

It is called a ditch, but in fact it is a canyon area with changeable climate, extremely harsh conditions and great danger.

The altitude here is over 5,100 meters, the turns are very steep, and there is a lake next to the national highway. If someone accidentally overturns their car in winter or has a physical condition and cannot continue to move forward and chooses to stay, they will basically be found dead the next day.

"Is it so weird?" Xu Ge was a little surprised after listening to Zhou Qiang's story.

"Take a bath in the Dead Man's Ditch and sleep on the sweet sea. Haven't you heard this saying?" Zhou Qiang said with a smile, "How many veterans regard this experience as an honor!

It’s winter now, if it were summer, we would take a bath every week, hahahaha!”

The two were chatting, and after turning a corner, a huge lake suddenly appeared in front of them!

We have arrived at the Spring Lake.

There was a guardrail built on this section of the national highway by the lake. Zhou Qiang parked the car next to the guardrail and began to signal Xu Ge to put on a hat and gloves.

"It's too cold outside, put on your coat."

"Um!"

Xu Ge wrapped himself tightly, and when he opened the car door, Baihu took the opportunity to jump out.

"You're not afraid of the cold, are you?"

"Woo-woof!"

Seeing the white tiger starting to have fun on the road, Xu Ge didn't bother to care about it. He and Zhou Qiang moved the water pump down and opened the lid of the bucket.

Most of the lake was frozen. Zhou Qiang climbed over the guardrail with a hammer, stood on the ice by the lake and started smashing the ice.

Boom boom boom!

As the impact continued, ice chips flew everywhere.

"No, no, I can't smash it anymore. Xu Ge, come down and smash it for a while!" Zhou Qiang waved at Xu Ge while panting.

At this altitude, any physical work becomes extremely difficult.

Xu Ge flipped over nimbly with his hands, took the hammer, swung it up and hit the ice surface.

Woo!

There was even a sound of wind breaking when the hammer passed through the air.

Boom!

Snap~gulp!

The ice surface was broken with one hammer.

Zhou Qiang was shocked: "Wow, young people are still energetic!"

A few minutes later, the water pump started working. Zhou Qiang threw the water pipe into the bucket and leaned on the railing with Xu Ge, smoking and waiting.

Ta-ta-ta!

The white tiger suddenly appeared from nowhere and ran along the asphalt road to Xu Ge: "Woof!"

"What's wrong?" Xu Ge was a little surprised. Baihu's behavior seemed like he had discovered something.

"Woo-woof!"

The white tiger bit the hem of Xu Ge's coat and pulled him forward a few steps, then continued walking forward on the road, while looking back at Xu Ge.

Now Xu Ge understood what he meant and followed immediately.

"Xu Ge, where are you going?" Zhou Qiang shouted quickly.

Xu Ge turned around and said, "Baihu seems to have discovered something up ahead. I'll go check it out."

"In this weather, there's not even a ghost on the road, let alone a car. What can we expect to find?"

Zhou Qiang muttered to himself, then shouted, "Then don't go too far. We'll go back when the bucket is full!"

"Okay, I got it!"

Xu Ge followed Baihu along the road and soon turned a corner.

Before, due to the obstruction of the guardrail, he could not see the situation on this side. After turning around, he found a figure wearing a military coat lying on the road, and a green motorcycle lying overturned not far away.

Xu Ge was startled and quickly turned around and shouted, "Stationmaster, someone has fallen off his bike here, it's one of ours!"

Zhou Qiang rushed over upon hearing this. When he saw the figure on the ground, his face changed: "This is our military mail deliveryman! Quick, save him!"

. . .

. . .

Sweetwater Marine Station, oxygen chamber.

Military postman Yi Cheng slowly opened his eyes and felt pain all over his body, especially in his right knee, which was stabbing with pain.

"hiss..."

Yi Cheng took a breath and subconsciously wanted to get up, but was pressed down on the bed by a pair of strong hands.

"Who are you, comrade? Where is this?"

Yi Cheng looked at the young corporal in front of him and asked hurriedly.

"You just had medicine applied to your leg. The injury is quite serious. Don't move for now." Xu Ge handed over a glass of water. "This is Tianshui Marine Station."

"Sweetwater Sea? That's great!"

Yi Cheng was surprised and delighted. "Comrade, are you also from the military station? Why haven't I seen you before?"

Xu Ge: "I'm new here."

"Where's Station Master Zhou?"

"He's filling the boiler room."

Yi Cheng straightened up slightly, took a look at the wound on his leg, and his face looked a little ugly: "Can you call him over? I have something urgent!"

"oh!"

Xu Ge patted the white tiger lying beside him and said, "Go and call the stationmaster."

"Woo-woof!"

The white tiger lazily got up, walked to the door, jumped up skillfully, unbolted the door, opened the door, and hooked it with its tail.

Snap!

The door closed again.

Yi Cheng was stunned. Could this dog be a spirit?!

"Comrade, when did your military station get such a big white dog?"

"It's a military dog, temporarily on vacation here." Xu Ge replied.

Yi Cheng: ???

"By the way, where's my motorcycle?" Yi Cheng said nervously, "There's something very, very important on it!"

Xu Ge: "Don't worry, we've towed the motorcycle back to you. The pannier bag is intact and nothing is missing."

"That's good, that's good! Thank God!" Yi Cheng breathed a sigh of relief.

squeak!

Baihu pushed open the door and came in.

"Xiao Yi, are you awake? The mountain is closed, why are you still running up there? Are you trying to save your life? If Xu Ge and I hadn't just happened to be fetching water from Dead Man's Ditch, you'd have frozen to death by now! Seriously, if there's any express delivery that can't be delivered after the weather is better..."

As soon as Zhou Qiang came in, he started chattering with a reproachful look on his face.

You can't blame him for being so nagging. It's very dangerous to go up the mountain in this weather!

Yi Cheng gave a bitter laugh. "Stationmaster Zhou, please stop blaming me! This isn't my first day at this job. I definitely know it's dangerous to go up the mountain at this time, but the military situation is urgent. I have to get the documents to the Sanshili Barracks before tonight!"

Zhou Qiang was stunned. "Deliver documents? What era is this? Fax, email, phone, and the internet are so advanced. If that doesn't work, a telegram will do! Do you really need to ride a motorcycle to a deserted area?"

"Actually, I've been slacking off for over a week now. A lot of soldiers' packages have arrived at my place, especially those from the new recruit company. It's about time I made a trip."

Yi Cheng paused and whispered, "Not to mention, this document was handed to me personally by our army's chief of staff!"

Zhou Qiang suddenly realized something and said, "You mean, the documents you're going to deliver are related to this New Year's exercise?"

Yi Cheng nodded. "Now both the Red and Blue factions have completely infiltrated each other's communication systems. They're basically fighting openly. Otherwise, they wouldn't need to run errands with humans!"

Zhou Qiang said with a tut: "It seems that both sides are taking this exercise quite seriously!"

“That’s it!”

Yi Cheng also nodded. "Originally, I hadn't planned to leave so early, but when they heard I was going up the mountain to deliver a package today, they sent a special car to pick me up, and the Chief of Staff personally handed the package to me!"

Xu Ge was listening to this and was surprised. He asked, "What's this New Year's drill? How come I don't know about it?"

Yi Cheng smiled: "Isn't that normal? There are only two of you at the military station. It doesn't matter whether you know or not. The army won't let you participate anyway."

Xu Ge didn't say anything.

Zhou Qiang glanced at Xu Ge and took the initiative to explain: "Actually, I know that this exercise is between our army and the 75th Group Army. We are the home team, the blue team."

"75th Army?" Xu Ge was surprised. "Aren't they from the Southern Theater Command?"

Zhou Qiang: "Actually, they came over to participate in winter training with us last month. I don't know the exact location. As for the exercises, they should have just started not long ago."

Yi Cheng interrupted Zhou Qiang and Xu Ge's conversation and said, "Stationmaster Zhou, I'm in this situation now. I might need you to make a trip for me!"

"I just added water to the boiler, I need to keep an eye on the temperature!"

Zhou Qiang was a little embarrassed. "I have already reported the situation to the headquarters. I think someone will come to pick you up soon."

Yi Cheng: "But I'm afraid we're running out of time! Stationmaster Zhou, don't you have a car? This place isn't far from the Sanshili Barracks, and it'll only take two or three hours to drive there!"

"But..."

"I'll go and take it there!" Xu Ge suddenly said.

They both looked over, and Yi Cheng asked, "Do you know how to get to Sanshili Barracks?"

"Um."

"Hmm what does that mean?"

"He was transferred from the Wolf Brigade. He must be more familiar with that place than I am." Zhou Qiang explained.

Yi Cheng immediately perked up: "What a coincidence! Comrade, thank you for your hard work!"

Zhou Qiang hesitated and looked at Xu Ge: "Xu Ge, Lao Guo told me not to let you go alone!"

Xu Ge frowned. "It's not like I don't know the way. Aren't the documents urgent? I'll be back after I deliver them."

"Woo-woof!"

The white tiger cried out immediately.

"By the way, White Tiger is with me!"

"Then you must go and come back quickly!" Zhou Qiang made a decision, "Bring your radio and cell phone with you. Contact me anytime if anything happens!"

"Um."

Xu Ge nodded and prepared to go out.

Yi Cheng quickly pulled out a sealed document from his pocket and handed it to Xu Ge, reminding him, "Comrade, remember to take all the packages and letters with you and hand them directly to the self-defense post at the military station over there. You can give this document directly to the station commander."

"good!"

Xu Ge went out and came to the yard and put all the packages on the motorcycle into the back seat of the pickup truck. He also put three letters directly on the passenger seat. Bai Hu had already gotten into the car.

After Zhou Qiang reminded him to take his cell phone and radio with him, he started the car and drove out of the gate.

. . .

. . .

Woo woo woo!

The cold wind was howling outside the car.

It was around eleven o'clock in the morning. Xu Ge did not dare to drive too fast. He estimated that he should arrive before two o'clock in the afternoon. He planned to go to the town to have a meal after delivering the things and then come back.

After driving for about an hour, a medium-sized truck appeared on the road ahead. Judging from the license plate, it should be coming up the mountain from the snow area.

Xu Ge was a little surprised. In this weather, is there really a driver who dares to come up?

drop!

When the two cars met, the truck on the opposite side suddenly honked its horn.

Xu Ge glanced at the other side and also made a beep, thinking that the other party was saying hello.

whoosh!

The two cars passed each other.

Bang!

In the cab of the truck, Tian Xiaohu, who was wearing a down jacket, reached out and slapped the driver hard on the forehead.

"You idiot! Why are you honking at a military vehicle? Are you afraid they won't know we're Red Army soldiers?"

The driver who was slapped quickly apologized: "Sorry, Captain, I thought I was driving a military vehicle..."

Bang!

Tian Xiaohu slapped him again: "Shit! Pull over to the side of the road!"

squeak!

The truck pulled over and braked.

Three heads emerged from hiding, and one of them asked, "What's wrong, Captain?"

Tian Xiaohu looked hesitant: "Why did that driver look so familiar to me?"

The others were shocked: "What the hell! People from the Wolf Brigade?!"

They came here for winter training this time and had no contact with the people of the 76th Army in the early stage.

If the company commander felt that the face was familiar, it could only be a member of the Wolf Brigade who had participated in the joint exercise together in Queshan last time.

The man in charge of driving scratched his head and said, "Captain, but the license plate of that car I just saw clearly belongs to the 76th Army's logistics department."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure!"

Tian Xiaohu was also confused: "Am I seeing things?"

The moment the two cars met just now was too brief, so it was normal to make a mistake, but for safety reasons Tian Xiaohu still asked to continue parking and waiting for a while.

"Wait a little longer. If no car comes after an hour, it means we haven't been exposed. Continue with the original plan!"

"yes!"

In fact, just now when they met each other, Xu Ge also felt that the person sitting in the passenger seat of the truck opposite looked a little familiar.

But he didn't take it seriously, thinking he was seeing things, and continued driving forward.

Are we practicing again?

At this moment, Xu Ge was still thinking about what Zhou Qiang and Yi Cheng had said before.

The scale of the exercise between the two armies must be very large!

If I hadn't left the Wolf Brigade, I should have been following the others by now, right?

No wonder the squad leader, deputy squad leader and the others didn't speak in the group, and Lin Wan didn't reply to the message either. They were probably all on a mission.

Huh? How did we get back from the last drill? I can't quite remember.

Taking the train?

Why don’t I have any impression of it at all?

I was thinking about this all the way, and before I knew it, the car had arrived at the Sanshili Barracks.

Xu Ge skillfully turned right off the national highway and soon arrived at the military station.

After getting off the car and telling the sentry about the situation, the station chief of the Sanshili Barracks military station immediately ran out to take the documents.

With the help of the sentry, Xu Ge moved all the packages in the car into the sentry booth. When he was about to leave, he remembered that there were three letters on the passenger seat, so he opened the car door and took them.

"People really write letters these days? Aren't they afraid of exposing their location?"

Xu Ge was a little curious and found that two of the three letters seemed to be credit card bills or something like that, and the handwriting on the other letter was very beautiful, and it was obvious that it was written by a girl.

When he looked at the delivery address again, he was suddenly stunned.

The Sixth Company of the First Regiment of the Wolf Brigade, Xu Ge (collect)!