The mountain roads were all opened up by the temporary engineering troops, and everywhere along the way could be seen makeshift bridges and sawed-off trees. However, these temporary mountain roads still had a huge gap compared to real roads. Most of the time, we walked along the mountain gorges, where many places only had a "gap" that could pass through between the trees. The bumps and twists along the way could no longer be described in words.
"When we were in the car, we once tried to calculate our location and destination. Based on the information we heard earlier, the 723 engineering department should be in the Greater Xing'an Mountains area, but during the journey, it didn't seem to be very similar. People who have been to Greater Xing'an Mountains told us that the continuous primitive forests here are no different from other places, but obviously the topography is different, and the temperature is not as cold as in Greater Xing'an Mountains. Speaking of which, it is possible to be in the Wolf Mountain area of Inner Mongolia. And now, obviously, they want to take us deep into the forest."
"All of this is just speculation, and even now we still don't know where exactly that area was. According to the later account of Lao Mao, the vast expanse of the mountainous region made him feel that we may have even crossed the border between China and Mongolia, and were actually within Mongolia's territory."
"We had a very difficult journey as the car followed the winding valleys and mountain ranges. We lost our sense of direction and could only go wherever the car went. The car moved very slowly and often broke down on the way with the wheels getting stuck in the black leaf soil under the forest. I can't remember how many times I was woken up from my drowsiness to push the car. Finally, we arrived at our destination after four days and five nights."
"I still remember it vividly. The destination that appeared before us in our exhausted state was a valley, which should have been the core area of the primitive jungle. However, we saw large areas of rusty barbed wire crawling with vines in the grass here. With keen eyes, we even saw Japanese characters nearly peeled off on the wooden stakes that tied the barbed wire."
"In that era, everyone was familiar with this scene. This is the East Three Provinces. After Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo, they surreptitiously did many things on this land. When we were exploring, we often saw abandoned secret hideouts and buildings left behind by the Japanese in the mountains. Most of them were set on fire with gasoline during their evacuation. Some of the facilities inside the buildings were very strange. In Northeast China, I once saw a three-story building with rooms that were only half a person high and had no stairs. Instead, you had to use a chain to go up and down, and I had no idea what it was used for."
After passing through the barbed wire, many dilapidated wooden shacks appeared behind the trees. They were covered with layers of grass and the roofs were collapsed by leaves, indicating that they had been abandoned for almost thirty or forty years. On one side of the shacks were trucks and military tents of the People's Liberation Army, where several engineering soldiers helped us unload the luggage from the truck upon seeing it arrive.
We saw Rong Ai Guo again here, but he didn't greet us. He just stood far away, looking at us with a stern expression as usual.
Later, I thought that this was the last time I saw him. In fact, I can't be sure if his name was really Rong Aiguo. After this event, due to work matters, I saw most of the people involved more than once, except for this person. I never heard of him again. At that time, I also asked many veteran officers of the engineering battalion. Although some had wide connections and had been in many regiments as political commissars, they all told me that they didn't know this person. So later, I thought that the identity of Rong Aiguo was not simple and he was definitely not an ordinary person in the engineering system. Of course, this is an aside and has nothing to do with this story.
After getting off the car, we were settled in those simple wooden houses. The houses were previously inhabited by Japanese soldiers and had a variety of furniture that was quite complete. However, they were severely dilapidated, and the wood easily crumbled. When we entered, we found that the house had been cleaned up and insecticides had been sprinkled, but decades of disuse meant it couldn't be completely cleaned. The wooden bed board was shaken, and all sorts of unidentified dead insects fell out. The wood was very damp and impossible to sleep on, so we had to use sleeping bags on the ground.
Personally, I dislike those simple wooden houses. The atmosphere inside feels strange, and I believe many people born in the same era as me feel the same way. Whenever I visit a place related to Japan, I feel a heavy burden that is hard to relieve. Unfortunately, I had no choice at that time.
After cleaning up, a soldier came to take us to dinner.
Those of us who were quite close followed Lao Mao because he seemed to be the most familiar with the place. When I saw him get off the bus, he stared at the tents for a long time with a smile that was not quite a smile, as if he knew what was going to happen. Lao Mao likes to play it cool, and standing next to him made me feel safer.
In the afternoon with nothing to do, in the evening we were taken to a tent where more than twenty people were sitting on the floor noisily. In front of us was a stage curtain and behind it was a projector which we called a "magic lantern". From the setup, it was evident that a meeting was about to be held for us.
"The meeting was chaired by a senior colonel. I think I have met him before, but I can't remember where. He first officially welcomed us on behalf of the 723 unit and apologized for the inconvenience caused by the confidentiality measures. Of course, there was no sign of apology on his face. Without further ado, in his Langfang accent, he directly told us: "The next agenda is classified as top secret of the state. Please raise your hand and take oath with me that you will never reveal it in your lifetime, including your wife, parents, comrades and children."
"We are accustomed to taking oaths. Many exploration projects are state secrets, and anyone entering the project team must take an oath of confidentiality. In those days, such oaths were highly regarded and considered revolutionary morals. Nowadays, taking oaths is like having a meal."
At that time, the national confidentiality regulations divided secrets into three levels: confidential, classified, and top secret. Ordinary exploration projects, such as the exploration of the Daqing Oil Field, although classified as a state secret, had photos that could be reported in the newspaper. We have never encountered national top secret exploration projects, and we do not know what world-shocking events are involved in them.
Everyone solemnly swore and many people looked at each other, obviously looking forward to the long-awaited resolution of our concerns. Of course, there were also many who were skeptical because there were often cases where the thunder was loud but the rain was small. Many times, it made people nervous because it involved top-secret matters related to the whereabouts or lifestyle of certain "elders," but in the end, it turned out to be a trivial matter.
Later someone summarized it this way: if it involves people's livelihoods, it's called a secret; if it involves economic, military interests, it's called confidential; only things related to the "elders" or some inexplicable, world-shaking matters are called "top secret".
"In any era, there are always hypocrites. When I saw the old cat in front of me during the oath, I drew a cross on my thigh with the other hand, meaning that this oath didn't count. This was a bit of a cunning trick commonly used in the underworld, but I didn't approve of it myself. Due to my family background and the things my family did before the liberation, breaking a promise is nothing compared to the despicable deeds we did. My father also doesn't seem to have any psychological shadows because of it. Besides, in this day and age, if I were to speak out, others might not even believe me."
Everyone had their own thoughts. After the ceremony was completed, the officer turned off the lights and someone started the slideshow. Once it began, I realized that I was ignorant because the slideshow machine was actually a small projector.
"That was a novel thing. We usually watch movies on a big screen, but now there's one so small, it feels curious to us. However, we only discussed it briefly before the colonel gestured for us to stop. Then, all of us watched a black and white short film that lasted about twenty minutes in silence."
I only watched for about ten minutes, and I already felt suffocated. I knew that this time the confidentiality work was not just for show. The video we are watching now is an absolutely confidential "Zero Film" that cannot be leaked.