There is a place called border pass.

On the border between China and Mongolia in Wulanchabu, there are hundreds of square kilometers of uninhabited low hills and Gobi. I went to the front six ti

On the border between China and Mongolia in Wulanchabu, there are hundreds of square kilometers of uninhabited low hills and Gobi. I went to the front six times with local leaders and army chiefs. Every time I went to the frontier post to express my condolences to the frontier officers and soldiers, I had to patrol the border built by cement piles and barbed wire for hundreds of miles.

From the headquarters of a frontier defense regiment to its subordinate frontier defense company, the nearest distance is fifty or sixty kilometers, and the farthest distance is several hundred kilometers. Gobi road is bumpy, and it takes a long time to drive an SUV from one company to another. Along the way, you can see only a handful of herdsmen's settlements. The whole field of vision is basically desert grassland, and most areas are Gobi covered with stones and gravel. The vegetation is sparse, just dotted with clusters of drought-tolerant Artemisia Gobi and camel grass, which makes people sleepy in the car. If you are lucky, you can see a group of wild donkeys, antelopes or camels in the distance, and a bright color will flash before your eyes. This is the most beautiful scenery you can see in Gobi grassland.

As we approached the company, we could see the watchtower standing high on the distant hill. The car drove into a company's station in the border defense. It's a 100 meter quadrangle in Fiona Fang, and the second floor is a small red brick building. The yard is very clean, and two or three security cars are parked neatly on one side of the yard. Plant elms in front of the barracks and cut them into neat elm walls. Clusters of elms add a touch of rare green to the desolate Gobi, which makes me feel that it is also full of vitality.

However, what really left a deep imprint on my heart was the border guards guarding the border, which is the eternal green of the border.

Walk into the barracks, approach the soldiers, and feel the military life and feelings of the border guards.

Some border guards come from small towns in the south of the Yangtze River and some from prosperous cities. Before they became soldiers, they were children under their parents' knees. From the first day they entered the frontier defense barracks, their tender shoulders assumed sacred responsibilities. The vast Gobi has forged these soldiers into iron-blooded men who can bear hardships, endure hardships and bear burdens. Now is a time of peace. Their main tasks are border smuggling and anti-smuggling, preventing people and animals from crossing the border between China and Mongolia, and preventing criminals from poaching wild donkeys, antelopes and other animals protected by the state. Over the years, these border defense companies have successfully completed the task of patrolling and guarding the border. The conference room of each company's headquarters is covered with plaques and banners recording the company's honor.

The company is the front line of border defense, and the post is the frontier. ? One post and three soldiers? The duty points called temporary posts are all near the border, 30 to 50 kilometers away from the company. They are semi-bunker buildings made of cement bricks. A cadre and two soldiers were on duty for a month. During the day, they left a sentry on duty, and they patrolled the border and stood guard through the observation window of the sentry at night. The cat waist into the post, the space inside is very narrow. Three people share a berth, and the quilt is folded into tofu blocks with sharp edges and corners. The wall is painted white and binoculars are hung on it. They cook their own meals, send the water to your company's post office and store it in an iron bucket. The three of them can use it for a week. Apart from the simple pots and pans covered with fine white gauze on the stove, a small radio, some books or a guitar by the bed, there are few other things to see here. Soldiers on duty practice outside the post every morning, strictly follow the prescribed time and patrol on foot according to the prescribed route. Sandstorms are everywhere in spring, and the sun is like fire in summer, which is passable, especially in the long winter, when the wind is cold and the snowstorm keeps on, sometimes the company can't send water for a few days, so it has to melt and clarify the snow before drinking. Gobi desert is desolate and lonely. In an emergency, soldiers can only contact the company through the military hotline of the post and report. Soldiers are homesick and miss their parents and relatives. When the bright moon is in the sky, they gently pluck the strings of homesickness through their beloved guitar. I once went to a company post to express my condolences. It happened that a deputy company commander was on duty at the post. When we were leaving the post, he carefully took out a letter and asked me to go back to the city to help him forward it. I accepted the letter and promised him to post it immediately. I can't remember his name, except that he is from Chongqing. He took two soldiers, one from Tianjin and the other from Tongliao, Inner Mongolia. Their faces were tanned by the Gobi sun and their lips were a little chapped. I left all the dozen bottles of mineral water in the car to the post, put the letter from the deputy company commander in my pocket and waved goodbye to them. I know. Not today, okay? After three months of fighting? The era, but so is the letter written at the Gobi border checkpoint? Reach 10 thousand gold Ah!

The most painful and lonely people in the border defense company are not the soldiers on duty at the post. The man in military uniform is the one who herds sheep for the company. Shepherd. . Most border defense companies raise hundreds of sheep to supplement the company's life. Whoever the sheep in the company are assigned to graze has a knot in his heart. When they came to the frontier as soldiers, they were not afraid to climb the ice and lie in the snow. They want to defend the country with their steel guns. It never occurred to them that they picked up a shepherd's shovel and touched the gun several times, and the soldiers who were herding sheep were wronged. However, it is the first duty of soldiers to obey orders. Even soldiers from Zeguo, a water town who have never heard of herding sheep, accepted the task without complaint. At first, I didn't give up, so I went to a far-away pasture to ask the herdsmen for advice. When herding sheep in the Gobi Desert, we should drive the sheep out of the barracks for more than ten miles, bring a kettle and a bag of dry food, and go out early and come back late every day, rain or shine. In summer, they have to endure the high temperature and heat of MINUS 30 to 40 degrees, and in winter, they have to walk into the ice and snow with the cold of MINUS 20 to 30 degrees. Especially when they can't see anyone all day, they talk to the grass, the white clouds in the sky and themselves, and occasionally sing a military song to relieve their unbearable loneliness. I believe no one can understand that kind of loneliness. Is it your company that comes back to the company canteen for dinner at the latest every day? Shepherd. Is the blackest and roughest face you see in the company yours? Shepherd. However, when you talked to him, he gave you a military salute first. At that moment, what you saw was not a soldier herding sheep, but a mighty bronze statue in the military camp. Been a soldier for two years, almost a year? Shepherd. He said the sheep was his? Soldiers? Is he a sheep? Commander? He named the head sheep and dozens of ewes in the flock. When he left the army, he said goodbye to his comrades. Finally, he fed his sheep feed and recited their names one by one. The company commander said that he was crying and his comrades-in-arms were crying.

At the border, I saw the most solemn military salute in my mind. It was dusk, and on the patrol path in the Gobi Desert, we met two soldiers dressed in camouflage uniforms and armed with steel guns. The commander's car stopped, and the soldiers and the commander saluted each other in a standard posture at the same time. The little soldier was a little nervous when his head suddenly appeared on the border. When asked about the patrol, the commander's eyes were fixed on his soldiers, dignified and loving. He patted the soldier on the shoulder. Watch our door, boy! ? The two soldiers stood at attention and saluted again: Yes! ? Answering only one word is a commitment to the head and a solemn commitment to the motherland!

At the border, I saw four Chinese characters that I will never forget. On the shallow grass slope beside the Gobi patrol road, I saw that it was made of Gobi stone? Long live the motherland! ? Four words, are these ordinary soldiers who pick up stones intermittently during patrols and love their country with their blood? Write? Under it. Seeing these four words, my tears swirled in my eyes. The accompanying reporter asked, what is your biggest feeling at the border? I said, only these soldiers who defend their country and border under the most difficult conditions can truly feel the weight of the motherland in their hearts, and only here can I know what responsibility and dedication are!

Wechat official account: old story old man.