Looking at the scene of the Dawali labor camp in front of him, Xu Jianguo couldn't help but recall the scenes of himself and his parents working on the farm in his previous life.
It’s just that the labor reform at that time was quite different from the one now. Many people in the labor reform farms at that time were there as victims of the storm, while in the labor reform farms now, there are more prisoners who have broken the law but whose crimes are not punishable by death.
After parking the car, Xu Jianguo got out and came behind Ma Guoliang and Dong Jixiang, standing with Tai Wei and Guo Bin.
Li Jianbin, the captain of the Dawari Labor Camp, came up to the group, stood at attention, saluted, and said, "Commander, Deputy Commander, welcome to the farm!"
Ma Guoliang and Dong Jixiang returned the salute, then nodded to the others who had come to greet them. Then they asked, "Captain Li, when will the new prisoners you mentioned arrive?"
"I received a call half an hour ago saying that I had already gotten off the train. I estimate I'll be there in another 40 minutes," said Li Jianbin.
"Okay, this is Gu Weihong, the platoon leader of the second guard platoon. He will bring people to help you escort the prisoners later." Ma Guoliang raised his hand and pointed to an officer.
"Okay, thank you, Commander!" After expressing his gratitude, Li Jianbin shook hands with Gu Weihong.
"Commander, we still have time. Why don't I take you around the farm first?" Li Jianbin said.
"Okay, let's take a walk!" Ma Guoliang said, and then the group walked towards the farm under the guidance of Li Jianbin.
Davari Labor Reform Farm is a state-owned labor reform farm established by the Labor Reform Bureau of Heizhou Province in 1953. It is located deep in the Greater Khingan Mountains, 20 kilometers east of the Davari Mountains. The forest here is vast, mostly deep mountains and old forests and uninhabited areas. It is only 140 kilometers away from the nearest Sulian border. The entire farm covers an area of about 170 square kilometers.
Most of the prisoners held in the Davari Labor Reform Farm are core criminal members, ideological and political prisoners, anti-organizational and revolutionary elements, as well as those who have committed corruption, bribery and duty crimes.
There are also some people who are said to have offended their superiors or villains at work and were sent to the farm on false charges. Since their cases have not been determined for a long time, they have to stay here.
Currently, there are 2,771 criminals detained on the farm. If the new prisoners who will be escorted in a while are included, the total number will exceed 3,000.
For a farm with only more than 300 supervisors and staff, the management pressure is indeed huge.
The farm is led by a team leader, a political instructor, and a squadron leader. The political instructor is in charge of farm discipline and is responsible for the ideological education of prisoners. Except for the logistics personnel, all others are guards.
The squadron leader is divided into six teams, namely: agriculture, infrastructure, medical care, industry, logging, and animal husbandry. These teams are responsible for different areas. Many of the team leaders or squad leaders are capable people selected from the inmates of labor camps.
In addition to the instructor and squadron leader, the team leader also directly manages the farm's logistics positions including finance, quarters, and canteen.
The group walked and stopped, and soon arrived at a small workshop closest to the farm camp.
According to Li Jianbin, this small workshop was assigned to the agricultural team for use as a mill because it was very close to the canteen and warehouse. At that time, many prisoners were working in it.
In the labor camp, there is no need to imagine the scene of donkeys pulling the millstone, as all the work is done by the inmates themselves.
There are six millstones in the mill, and each millstone is assigned two prisoners, one to pull the millstone and the other to sweep the grain with a small broom.
Led by Li Jianbin, everyone walked into the mill. As soon as they entered the door, a skinny middle-aged man wearing patched clothes ran over quickly.
"Report to the captain, the third shift of the agricultural team is working, please give instructions!"
"Keep working!"
"yes!"
Xu Jianguo looked in the direction of the millstone and found that they were grinding cornmeal. Different from the cornmeal we usually grind from corn kernels, the cornmeal here is made by grinding the whole dried corn kernels, and then sifting and bagging it.
The taste is completely incomparable to pure cornmeal. When grain production decreased in the early years, Xu Jianguo often drank this kind of porridge in Sandaliang Village. At that time, in order to ensure that everyone had enough to eat, the commune encouraged each brigade to grind the previously discarded corn cobs into flour.
This cornmeal porridge left a deep impression on him. Not only did it make his throat sore, but he also got constipated when going to the toilet. He really suffered for several years.
Xu Jianguo stood behind the crowd, carefully looking at the prisoners who were working. He couldn't help but think of his parents in his previous life. While thinking, he followed the crowd and prepared to leave the mill to go somewhere else.
But just as he turned around, the man who was turning the millstone at the innermost part suddenly caught his attention.
Xu Jianguo stopped and looked carefully. When the man pushed the wooden handle and turned around, facing him, he recognized him at a glance. It was Cao Dejiang from the Jingzhou Military Research Institute, whom he had seen before at the Binhai Base and who had attempted to steal the test samples of new equipment.
In fact, Cao Dejiang saw Ma Guoliang and his team when they arrived at the mill just now, but he could not imagine why, with the contributions made by the Binhai base, they would be transferred to the bitter and cold place of Daxinganling.
Since becoming a labor camp prisoner, Cao Dejiang has become much more honest than before. Facing the enemies who sent him to the rural labor camp, he has no desire for revenge, so he can only choose to play ostrich, hoping that these people will not discover him and avoid making things difficult for him. But what he never expected was that he was still discovered by Xu Jianguo.
When his eyes met Xu Jianguo's, he was at a loss for a moment and stood there in a daze, staring at Xu Jianguo blankly, with a flash of strong hatred in his eyes.
"What are you looking at? Get to work!"
At this time, the squad leader prisoner who had come to report started to scold, which woke up Cao Dejiang who was in a daze.
He lowered his head, as if he didn't see Xu Jianguo, and continued to push the wooden handle in his hand to grind.
"Jianguo, what are you looking at?" Ma Guoliang's voice sounded behind him.
"It's okay, Commander, I saw someone I know!" Xu Jianguo turned around and walked to Ma Guoliang and said.
"What? You have acquaintances here?" Ma Guoliang asked in disbelief.
"Not only do I know him, you and the deputy commander know him too!" Ma Guoliang said.
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