Chapter 24 Chapter 22: To Inner Mongolia

After the farm in northern Jiangsu took shape, the superiors wanted to transfer people to Inner Mongolia to set up the farm, and decided to plant rice in the new site. As soon as the news of the transfer came out, they bravely signed up. He is active by nature and yearns for places he has never been to. At that time, many units from other places came to the northern Jiangsu farm to recruit troops, including those from Inner Mongolia, Qinghai Province, and Xinjiang.The travel plan I made at that time was from east to west, from south to north, first to Inner Mongolia, to live for a year or two, then to Qinghai, and then to Xinjiang.Naturally, this plan failed to come true. After spending two winters in Inner Mongolia, I moved to Hong Kong and lived in Hong Kong for nearly 30 years.

I signed up to go to Inner Mongolia, and I was ready right away. I was very happy, but I didn't expect that before I left, I would suffer a lot.All people who go to Inner Mongolia must receive vaccinations. I thought that one or two injections would be nothing. How could I have received fifteen types of vaccinations in one dozen, even plague vaccinations? Illness, after fifteen injections, not only the arms and buttocks hurt, but I also developed a high fever for three days, which made my bones ache all over my body.I really don't understand why so many injections are given. Could it be that the epidemic is rampant on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia!When I got there, I didn't feel much. I'm afraid the pain of the fifteen needles was for nothing.

From the farm to Zhenjiang, I took the train all the way to the north. Since I brought a group of labor reform prisoners, the train was a special train and did not carry other passengers. A small place that is hard to find on the map, it takes half a day to stop, and you can naturally understand the scenery of this place calmly, and appreciate the specialties of this place to your heart's content.I remember eating chicken twice. When I arrived in Fuliji, I had eaten the roast chicken until I bit my tongue. When I went to Dezhou, I sat in the shop and brought up the grilled chicken. I shook my hands and all the chicken came off. Only the chicken bones are left, and it is extremely fragrant and tender.

The train left the customs and arrived outside the customs. The scenery is even more different. The warm clothes issued are by no means enough, and an old sheepskin coat is issued. This old sheepskin coat has only leather boards, no cloth surface, and the hair is three to four years old. It weighs an astonishing 2 inches, at least ten to twenty catties (a fat horse and light fur, so heavy, it is naturally not a good product, it is rough hair like a thick towel).However, the old sheepskin coat really has the effect of keeping out the cold. It can be worn during the day and covered at night.Heavy, that's not the main problem. The biggest problem is that it has a very strong smell of sheep. When a few old sheepskin coats are shaken off in a carriage, the smell can almost suffocate people to death!However, everything is about getting used to it, and over time, I don't feel it at all.

After leaving the customs, head north all the way, take a look at the map, the more north you go, the colder it is, in Zhengjiatun, the train is estimated to stop for seven or eight hours, so I hired a carriage to go shopping, and put on a big leather hat for the first time , Braving the cold wind, listening to the slapping and whipping of the driving car, I felt a sense of foreign customs in my heart.It took a total of more than a week to ride the train before arriving at the final destination of the train: Tailai County in Heilongjiang Province. From Tailai County to Zhalaite Banner in the Mongolian Autonomous Region, it is necessary to rely on primitive means of transportation, riding horses, the weak take carriages, and most people walk.

During the three-day itinerary, the first day was riding a horse. I was really excited because it was the first time in my life. Mongolian horses are not tall and easy to mount. Unfortunately, there are more horses than saddles, and they are all laid on horseback. An old blanket, I rode on it, galloped all the way fast and slow, really proud of myself, fell in love with the horse, and refused to get off no matter what. I didn't know something was wrong until I got off the horse in the dark. My butt hurt like a knife stabbing a needle, and the inner sides of my thighs were all worn out until bleeding. I couldn't even stand firmly, and couldn't even take a step.Those who were injured that time, more than ten people from the south, were all in a state of embarrassment under the laughter of the big man in the north, and they had to be supported to move.

The next day, of course, there was no Gu Pan majestic appearance on the horse, and they all became moaning sick men, sitting in the car, accepting the mocking gaze of the big man from the north. This was a very embarrassing experience, but people can exercise in everything. Thinking back, when I wore straw sandals for the first time, didn’t I have more than a dozen blood blisters on my feet in one day?The first time I grabbed a hoe, after a day, there were layers of blood blisters on my palms, and my buttocks were worn out, so what? Once I settled down, I endured the pain and rode horses every day. In less than half a month, nothing happened.

Life in Inner Mongolia is impossible without horses, and horses are plentiful and worthless. The most impressive time was when a group of horses suddenly came, about seventy or eighty horses, and they naturally stayed to raise them.A few days later, herdsmen from Inner Mongolia came to the door, saying that the horse belonged to them, and that it could be branded. Naturally, the horse returned to the original owner, but it was raised for many days, and the fodder fee must be calculated. It is only about thirty or fifty yuan. After the herdsmen discussed it, they would rather not have a horse. The horse is worthless. It is conceivable that the most expensive thing is the saddle. If you have a pair of saddles, you will look extraordinary. Most of them are bareback horses, so they will grind their ass until they bleed profusely.

In Inner Mongolia, another big advantage is that you don’t have to worry about meat. The canteen sells horse meat, a bowl of three cents RMB. The taste is no different from that of beef, but the meat is thicker and the nutrition is similar.The worst thing, of course, is the cold. That kind of cold method is really beyond imagination. Fortunately, there are enough equipment to protect against the cold, and there are very few people who freeze to death.It is much better to know the cold and be prepared for it than to attack the cold with a back arrow.