"Lao Zhang, half of the food has been consumed."

Smoking a cigarette, he came to Zhang Qingshan. Looking at the full moon in the starry sky, Zhou Ping felt calm, but when he thought of the food problem, he frowned again and couldn't help but remind Zhang Qingshan.

Zhang Qingshan didn't know what he was thinking, but felt comfortable all over and his mind was empty. This was probably an ethereal state. But when he heard Zhou Ping's words, he was instantly pulled back to the cruel reality.

I turned my head and looked at Zhou Ping standing beside me, frowned slightly, nodded, took a sip of cigarette, looked up at the beautiful Milky Way Moon Star, but I could no longer find the ethereal and beautiful state just now. Two words that made people feel helpless appeared in my mind!

Knowing that Zhang Qingshan was racking his brains to think of a solution at this time, Zhou Ping was very anxious and was afraid that Zhang Qingshan would not pay enough attention to this issue, so he had to remind him again: "After we met with three comrades Wu Shaohong the day before yesterday, we have not met new comrades in the past two or three days, which proves that the route we took was biased from the large army at the beginning. However, after turning this morning, we immediately met two waves of people in succession, which is the most beneficial way to prove the correctness of our current route. But the problem is."

Speaking of this, Zhou Ping paused, frowned deeply, and sucked a deep breath of cigarette. After trying hard to calm down the excitement and anxiety in his heart, he continued to say: "When you were fishing, I asked some of the situations of Comrade Luo Dingkun."

Perhaps he saw Zhang Qingshan still looking up at the starry sky, and there was no response to his words. He looked at Zhang Qingshan strangely. Seeing that he still had no response, he was slightly surprised at Zhang Qingshan's calmness and continued: "He said he started falling behind the next afternoon and really had no strength to leave. Finally, he sat here to rest with the other two soldiers in the same class. Unexpectedly, when Yi woke up the next day, the two comrades had already sacrificed silently. He really couldn't walk anymore. Seeing this situation, he felt that even if he caught up with the main force, it would only cause trouble for everyone. He gritted his teeth and simply gave up and lie here and waited for death."

Although the words were simple, the meaning expressed was extremely worrying. Zhang Qingshan finally turned his head to look at Zhou Ping, and asked with a moved expression: "The situation of the main force is so serious?"

"Yeah!" Zhou Ping nodded, lowered his head and took a sip of cigarettes, then looked up at Zhang Qingshan, and looked at each other's eyes, and anxiety and worry appeared in each other's eyes. Zhou Ping added: "I guess the situation may be even worse than we thought. He said that when he was behind, the large army basically had no food, and everyone relied on wild vegetables to fill their hunger. Some comrades were so hungry that they couldn't stand it, so they ate their own cowhide belts, cowhide hoods, etc. Alas!"

Zhang Qingshan looked up at the sky and said nothing for a long time. However, Zhou Ping showed keenly that every time Zhang Qingshan smoked a cigarette, the cigarette butts were trembling slightly. It can be seen that Zhang Qingshan's emotions were not stable, but he was more restrained.

A few minutes later, Zhang Qingshan still had the cigarette butt in his hand on the ground and crushed it hard with his feet. The smoke he spit out seemed very light and agile under the light of the clear moon. He sighed and asked softly: "Lao Zhou, according to your judgment, do you think we are still far from the main force?"

"According to Comrade Dingkun's description, after he fell behind, he joined several comrades to catch up with the main force, I estimate that it would take three to four days to go. According to Comrade Dingkun's own judgment, the main force had no food and was only dependent on wild vegetables, which consumed a lot of physical strength. He estimated that the average daily itinerary of the main force in the past three to four days should be between twenty-five and thirty miles. Moreover, although it is still walking during the day and camping at night, the camping time is getting longer and longer."

The camping time is getting longer, that is, everyone's physical energy is consumed more and more, but the nutrition cannot keep up for a long time, which makes the individual unwilling to get up, but uses sleep to make up for the physical energy consumed during the day.

Zhang Qingshan's brows frowned unconsciously, looked at Zhou Ping, opened his mouth, but said nothing. Although they were considered lightweight, they were naturally faster than the main force, but the problem was that they had gone a little off the main force at the beginning. Now, if they wanted to catch up on the side, they had to make more trips.

Zhou Ping thought he was going to ask Xiang Xueqin about it, so he quickly explained: "Comrade Dingkun doesn't know his younger brother and sister, so he doesn't know the specific situation of his younger brother and sister. However, if there is no news, it's the best news, don't worry."

Zhang Qingshan said laughing and crying: "I know, but what I just wanted to ask about is the situation of the elders?"

Hearing this, Zhou Ping frowned and said in a low tone: "We are a revolutionary team. The leaders have always strongly opposed specialization. They should be equal to the officers and soldiers, and eat and live with everyone."

Speaking of this, Zhou Ping paused, frowned deeper, but looked up at the sky, and the volume was much lower: "Comrade Dingkun said something he saw with his own eyes."

This must be a big deal, and a bad thing. Otherwise, Zhou Ping, the most calm person, would not have such a look.

"Yeah! Say it."

"One evening, General Xiaoke happened to inspect the regiment where Comrade Dingkun was located. Seeing that the comrades were eating wild vegetables and there was no food, General Xiaoke was about to kill his war horse for everyone to eat. At that time, the comrades tried their best to stop it, and many soldiers knelt down and begged. But General Xiaoke first apologized to the soldiers, saying that he, the leader, did not take everyone well, and I am sorry for everyone's trust. Then he said that Comrade Dingkun was a little far away at that time and could not hear what General Xiaoke said specifically. He only remembered General Xiaoke said: If all the comrades were sacrificed, it would be boring to live as a commander but he killed his war horse and distributed the horse meat to everyone."

After saying that, Zhou Ping specially added: "At that time, many soldiers were crying and crying loudly. General Xiao Ke's eyes were red at that time. He heard that he hid beside him and cried after he went back."

War horses! How precious and precious it is for the warriors. It can be imagined that if it is only a last resort, who would be willing to kill his war horses? It can also be imagined how sad and angry General Xiaoke was at that time.

After Zhang Qingshan was silent for a while, he asked lightly: "How many people are there in the main force?"

Zhou Ping shook his head, and didn't know how to answer this question without answering it. With the combination of factors such as falling behind, deviation, etc., I'm afraid no one can tell a specific number.

Zhang Qingshan also realized how stupid he was when he asked just now. After thinking about it, he asked, "Which direction is the main force?"

"He doesn't know."

"have no idea?"

"Well! He fainted from hunger. Now, he couldn't tell the direction at all."

"Then we can only follow our original plan and walk and explore while deviating to the northwest."

"Well! I hope I can meet new comrades as soon as possible, so that I may get more specific situations of the main force."

Zhang Qingshan nodded, looked back and said to Zhou Ping: "Go back and roast the fire, they seem to have finished eating."

"I'll have something to discuss with you later."

"What's up?"

“Food problem!”

Zhang Qingshan's brows that had just stretched out frowned again.

Zhou Ping had no choice but to repeat the previous words and asked: "The food consumption has been over half. I have estimated that a few more people will be added! If you count ten people, you can still ensure that you can eat some barley in the meal, but if there are more people, it will be a little trouble."

"Old Zhou, I know what you are thinking about. You are trying to say that if we continue to follow up on the main force like this, we will take in more comrades who are behind, and then we will not have enough food, right?"

"Well! But first, I agree to continue taking in. After all, they are all our own comrades. If we want to take in more comrades who are behind, we must start from now on, strive to save every meal and leave it to those comrades who need it more in the future."

"I agree," Zhang Qingshan pondered slightly and said, "Let's do this, from now on, we will move forward according to the normal schedule and rest according to the normal schedule. In this way, I can still have more time every time and try to catch some fish so that fish can be used instead of food, so that every grain can be saved."

Fish is naturally fragrant, and even if it is paired with a large amount of wild vegetables, it is better than barley flour and a large amount of wild vegetables. Zhang Qingshan meant that he wanted to exchange fish for food to save the saved food for comrades who will be admitted in the future. After all, it is conceivable that when he meets those soldiers who are left behind, those soldiers are hungry and colder than others, and the food they lack the most is food. To put it more bluntly, they save food now, and they may be able to save the lives of comrades.

This is also because there is no way to do so, I can only tighten my belt.

"Okay, that's it. However, those injured and sick must be specialized."

"This is natural." Zhang Qingshan nodded: "I can even imagine that there will definitely be no fewer comrades like Comrade Dingkun who are not injured or fallen because of hunger. Now, we are just trying to see how to rescue comrades in this situation at that time."

"Then I will start with breakfast tomorrow, and you and I will suffer a little, save some money."

"Haha, it's all for the revolution, for my own comrades, and for going out. What's this hardship? It was even more painful than this before. You're not like this?"

The two of them looked at each other and laughed at the same time. The smile contained bitterness and struggle, as well as heroism.

"The key is, Baoyu and Xiaofang, what are you going to arrange? Should we do it according to our food standards, or the standards of the injured and sick?"

This is indeed a problem: although they are not injured or sick, the problem is that they are now at a good time to grow up and are prone to hunger. They are not very tall because of their long-term malnutrition. If they are treated according to the standards of Zhang Qingshan and Zhou Ping, it will greatly affect their future health. But if they are based on the food standards of the injured and sick, it depends on their ideological awareness and whether they are willing or not.

"In this way, I'll talk to them and let them choose themselves."

"Well, but Lao Zhang, we must do a good job of keeping confidentiality in this kind of thing. Never let the wounded and sick people notice that we are taking special care of them, so that we will not recover from the injury when we are reluctant to leave." At this point, Zhou Ping sighed and said, "Every Red Army soldier we are all good comrades!"

Zhang Qingshan nodded silently and looked at the people who were laughing not far away with honor.
Chapter completed!