January 9, 1961
On the Liyang Mountain in the northwest corner of the urban area of Shuo County, Jinbei District
Lin Sanqi was holding a wooden stick, his whole body wrapped up like a dumpling, with a dog-skin hat on his head and a scarf wrapped around it, looking like a fleeing farmer.
As he was walking, he suddenly stumbled and fell directly onto the hillside.
"Comrade Sanqi, are you okay?"
When the people around saw it, they quickly gathered around to show their concern.
Lin Sanqi raised his head and shook his hands: "I, I, I'm fine... Damn it, you, why is the wind so strong in northwest Shanxi? So strong... It's blowing so hard that I can't even stand..."
Dean Shen walked in front of the team and looked back at Lin Sanqi, who was lying on the ground like a dead dog. He felt extremely contemptuous.
"Hurry up and stand up! Look at yourself. Among our team of over a hundred people, who has such poor physical strength as you? Look at the other PLA comrades, carrying loads of supplies on their shoulders and backs. Who doesn't have 100 to 80 kilograms of supplies on their backs? Are they exhausted?"
Everyone around burst into laughter when they heard this.
Hu, the political commissar of the Jinbei Military Region, said with a smile:
"It's no wonder Comrade Lin Sanqi is so young. He's from the capital, enjoying the best of life. He's never suffered hardship since childhood. Unlike us, we climbed snow-capped mountains and crossed grasslands during the 25,000-mile Long March. That's why we don't feel the hardship or fatigue now."
Dean Shen took the opportunity to sit down on the ground:
"Old Hu, don't speak well of this kid. He's useless. He can't even compare to old guys like us, let alone the comrades in the People's Liberation Army. When I get back, I'll urge him to exercise well and not hold everyone back."
Lin Sanqi lay on the ground, thinking that he should be more restrained when going out with Yin Lianyi in the future. After fighting for several nights, his legs were weak and no amount of Chinese medicine could make them back up.
I just traveled back to 1961 and rushed hundreds of kilometers to Shanxi. Then I had to climb the mountains. It would be strange if I didn’t collapse from exhaustion. It seems that I still have to eat a lot when I go back, and stuff it into my mouth like chewing strange-tasting beans.
"Hu, Political Commissar Hu...how much longer will it take us to reach the Jingde Temple?"
Lin Sanqi thought to himself that in 2013 he took a car along the winding mountain road to get there, and the whole journey took less than an hour.
As a result, we have been climbing the mountain for 5 hours, but still haven’t seen the shadow of the dilapidated temple. How long will it take to finish this climb?
Political Commissar Hu looked at the mountains and felt a little embarrassed, so he looked at a local villager guide next to him.
"Fellow villager, how long will it take us to get to Jingde Temple?"
The fellow hurriedly nodded and bowed: "Leader, hurry up, hurry up, if you let me go, I will be there in an hour at most."
Lin Sanqi wailed, "It's over! What takes one hour for my fellow villagers will take at least three or four hours for me."
Dean Shen stood up and patted his butt when he heard it.
"Okay, let's go. It's already noon. We'll be lucky if we can reach Jingde Temple before dark. Do you still want to camp in the wild? Be careful of wolves. The wolves in northwest Shanxi ate human flesh before liberation, and they're even more vicious and ferocious than the wolves in Changping."
When Lin Sanqi heard this, he glanced at the 100 golden troops. They were all wearing green uniforms and had real weapons on their backs and waists. Not to mention wolves, even ghosts would be beaten to a pulp.
"Uncle Shen, you can't scare me. If it were just the two of us, I'd be scared. But now that there are so many PLA soldiers here, I guess the wolves will run away when they see us from afar. Otherwise, they'll just be delivering food to us."
Political Commissar Hu was a local tyrant, and he laughed when he heard this:
"Comrade Lin Sanqi, let's climb as fast as we can."
Lin Sanqi also stood up, leaning on a piece of wood: "Then let's climb."
Captain Xu of the Golden Army also laughed and said:
"Comrades, Lieutenant Colonel Lin can't climb any further. Let's sing him a song to cheer him up!"
"good!!!"
"Get ready to sing!"
"The sun sets in the west, the clouds turn red; the soldiers return to camp after target practice; the red flowers on their chests reflect the rosy clouds; the sky is filled with joyful songs; Mi so la mi so, La so mi do re, the sky is filled with joyful songs~~~"
Dean Shen laughed and said to Lin Sanqi:
"This song, 'Returning from Target Practice,' was just released this year and has been very popular among officers and soldiers. Look at how energetic these respectable and lovely young people are."
Lin Sanqi nodded heavily:
"The Golden Army has had a very difficult time, fighting in the harshest environments and the most difficult conditions. We should all learn from them."
Lin Sanqi wanted to join the Gold Troops because they had to search for gold in the wild and had rich experience in prospecting and were professionally qualified.
If gold can be mined easily, then finding a coal mine should be a piece of cake, right?
Three hours later, the villagers finally shouted in surprise:
"Here we are, here we are, at Jingde Temple."
Lin Sanqi, who was completely exhausted, got up quickly as if he had a last burst of energy when he heard this. With the support of two young PLA soldiers on his left and right, he quickly climbed to the top of the mountain.
Dean Shen, Political Commissar Hu, and Captain Xu were already at the temple gate. Seeing Lin Sanqi coming up, they quickly waved:
"Is this the temple?"
Lin Sanqi quickly pulled a stack of photos from his backpack and pointed them at the temple gate. The photos were taken by Lin Sanqi in 2013 with his phone, deliberately photoshopped to look like those from the 1960s.
"There's a stone memorial archway in front of the temple gate, with flame patterns on it. Yes, that's the same memorial archway, exactly the same. The temple gate is made of stone, and the words 'Jingde Family Temple' are inscribed on it. Hey, this plaque doesn't seem right."
Dean Shen grabbed the photo and compared it:
"Everything else is correct. It's okay if the wooden plaque is wrong. Perhaps someone replaced it in the meantime. There's a temple behind this. Let's go in and compare it."
The Jingde Temple in 2013 is definitely different from the Jingde Temple in 1960.
After all, Jingde Temple was renovated in 2013 and used as a tourist attraction, so it is well protected.
There was not even a single monk or Taoist priest in the Jingde Temple in front of him. The temple was overgrown with weeds and looked dilapidated. It was obvious that no one had been there for a long time. Even the roof of the temple had collapsed a lot.
Dean Shen and the others were comparing photos. Lin Sanqi had just been here in another era and had a very similar impression, so he looked at it with his eyes and concluded in his heart that this was the Jingde Temple he was looking for.
"Uncle Shen, Political Commissar Hu, Captain Xu, I think this is the Jingde Temple. It's almost certain here. I have a stack of photos here of the surrounding mountains. Please compare them."
Although the overall landscape of mountains and rivers has not changed in the past 60 years, many details have changed.
For example, the mountains around us are all bare, the tops of the mountains are exposed, and there are very few trees and vegetation.
In 2013, the mountains were all covered with forests. It is obvious that later generations paid more attention to environmental protection.
A mountain with trees looks different to the naked eye than a mountain without trees, just like a chicken looks different when it is featherless than when it is feathered.
Everyone dispersed with their photos and compared them with the surrounding mountains.
Lin Sanqi stood on the top of the mountain and looked down. There was a huge canyon at the foot of the mountain, with an area of at least two or three hundred square kilometers, but it was different from what he saw in another era.
In 2013, there were two huge coal pits at the foot of the mountain, very, very deep and very, very spectacular.
After a while, Captain Xu of the Golden Army came over:
"President Shen, Political Commissar Hu, Lieutenant Colonel Lin, based on our assessment, this should be the Jingde Temple in Lieutenant Colonel Lin's photo. Look, the mountain in the photo is the mountain across the way. There's a gap here, which is the gap between the two peaks over there. They all match up."
Lin Sanqi had an idea in mind and was not surprised at all.
Dean Shen was a little excited after hearing this: "Xiao Qi, this is it. Then where is the huge open-pit coal mine you mentioned?"
Lin Sanqi pointed down the mountain and said:
"If I tell you that at least 300 square kilometers at the foot of this mountain is entirely covered with coal, and that the deposits are very shallow, would you believe it?"
Dean Shen and Captain Xu looked at each other and saw the word "disbelief" in each other's eyes.
If these hundreds of square kilometers were all open-pit coal mines, that would be an astonishingly huge amount of wealth. It would be impossible for it not to have been discovered over the years.
Hu Zhengce looked at the guide next to him:
"Fellow villager, what is the land at the foot of the mountain called in your area?"
"Leader, we call this place Antai Fort. There used to be a fortress and military camp there to defend against the Tartars in the northern frontier. Later I heard that when Li Zicheng rebelled, he fought a battle with the Ming army here.
At least 100,000 people died on both sides in that battle, and everyone considered this place unlucky. Furthermore, the land here is unsuitable for growing crops, so there aren't even any villages here, and even caravans don't go through Antaibao.
Lin Sanqi laughed when he heard it:
"That's right, we can't grow crops. Haha, that's because the high coal content in the coal soil makes it too acidic, affecting the plants' ability to absorb nutrients. That's why we can't grow crops. It seems we've found the right place!" (End of this chapter)
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