What an unheard of thing, how can you go out to have fun and relax and still go out together?
Although the soldiers didn't understand Zhou Changfeng's strange request, they still complied with it.
Anyway, we used to go out in groups to eat, drink and have fun during holidays. This time there were just more people, so it didn’t matter.
As for the soldiers who died in this battle, unless their families have special requests, they will be buried by the third mixed brigade.
There is a large open space reserved in the northwest corner of the station, which is the cemetery. Now there are only about 20 to 30 tombs in it. But Zhou Changfeng knew very well that after the large forces were reorganized, hundreds of new tombs might be added here at once.
Because the tombs of emperors are called "mausoleums", and because fallen soldiers often cannot bring their bodies back, most of their tombs are actually only tombs. Therefore, the official name here is actually Tomb Garden of Martyred Soldiers.
He stood at the entrance of the Tomb Garden, looking at the calm and solemn stone archway and fell into deep thought.
Before he died, Sun Cheng told himself that he must persuade his wife to remarry. He firmly agreed without thinking much at the time, but how could he say this now?
Zhou Changfeng has been struggling with this matter these days, not knowing how to face his wife.
The day before yesterday, the first batch of obituaries, that is, death notices, had been printed and distributed, but Sun Cheng's letter was intercepted by Zhou Changfeng.
He drove near Sun Cheng's home, but he was hesitant to make up his mind to get out of the car, and finally turned around and left after all kinds of tangles.
On this night, several officers of the first battalion did not leave the camp, but set up a round table at the battalion headquarters to eat hot pot.
Under the cheers of several people, Zhou Changfeng took out two bottles of Yanghe Daqu and some bulk Xiaoqu wine.
Under the bright lights, Xie Wancheng, Xue Can, Liu Qidong, Fan Wenhai, and Zhou Changfeng sat around the table. They even left an empty seat, placed a bowl in front of the empty seat, and filled it with wine.
"Here's a toast first!" Zhou Changfeng picked up the cup, gestured towards the empty seat, then raised his neck and drank it all.
"Let's go!" Everyone followed suit and toasted together.
The drink is warm, sweet, slightly spicy, and full of rich aroma in your mouth.
With a solemn expression, Zhou Changfeng reached for the bowl in front of the empty seat and poured all the wine in it onto the ground.
Everyone was a little depressed without a companion who lived with them day and night and fought side by side. Especially the current scene aroused their sadness. Bits and pieces of their past lives appeared in their minds like a slide show.
So before long, the dinner for the five of them turned into telling stories about the past, wiping away tears, drinking wine and picking up food.
After a while, Xie Wancheng, whose eyes were wet, turned his head and asked, "Batalion Commander, what about Sun Zhixin's last words?"
Hearing this, several people looked at Zhou Changfeng.
"The living has passed away and the dead rest in peace." His eyes fell on the cup and he said calmly: "The original intention of his confessing that he wanted his wife to remarry was naturally because he did not want her to become a widow and suffer early. It would be best if his wife agreed, but if not Do you agree? I think we can’t force it, we can only try our best to persuade.”
"Anyway, I feel that if you are pregnant, there is no need to force her to have an abortion and remarry." Liu Qidong said carelessly: "Then the unborn child also has a life? Why bother."
"Alas." Xue Can sighed, "But since he was born without a father, the child will probably be looked down upon since he was a child. Moreover, a girl's family has to raise the child alone, how difficult it is."
"Yes, if he really wants his wife to continue to live a peaceful life, I'm afraid the best way is to remarry, otherwise he will be alone for decades... and suffer."
In fact, since the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, the so-called chastity is far from extreme. It is up to the Qing Dynasty to push chastity, widowhood and the like to their peak.
The Qing Dynasty clearly stipulated in the "Rules of the Ministry of Rites" that women need to observe etiquette after the death of their husbands, and if they perform well, they must be commended, thus greatly encouraging this extremely narrow-minded custom.
Throughout the three hundred years of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties, there were only 200 chaste and martyr women recorded in total. However, with the influence of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, there were nearly 400 in the Yuan Dynasty in just a few decades, and 270 in the Ming Dynasty. Over the years, the number has increased to more than 20,000.
However, this is nothing. Compared with the Qing Dynasty, it can only be said to be insignificant. In the Qing Dynasty, more than one million chaste martyrs were recorded and praised, and various chastity memorials can be seen everywhere.
After hundreds of years of development, Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism has long since expired. Such an empty and decadent doctrine was criticized by many literati in the late Ming Dynasty. A more enlightened and pragmatic approach to managing the world and applying it should have replaced it.
However, the Qing Dynasty that entered the Pass was able to prolong its life, and Neo-Confucianism, which had lost its vitality, was forcibly picked up again, leaving only empty talk to make the world's scholars understand the scriptures and maintain the rule of the Qing Dynasty.
Obviously, the rise of the Later Ming Dynasty did not allow Neo-Confucianism, which had half its foot in the grave, to be resurrected by the Qing Dynasty. It ended its life honestly, and the later Ming Dynasty, which was more orthodox, did not need to rely on this decadent thing to maintain its rule.
As a result, the saying "Starving to death is a small matter, but being dishonest is a big deal" was rumored to be true and regarded as a creed, and gradually no one cared about it.
In the early Ming Dynasty, a widow petitioned Jian Yi, the Minister of Civil Affairs, for help. Jian Yi asked her why she didn't remarry.
This happened in the early Ming Dynasty when the atmosphere was relatively conservative, let alone the late period when the atmosphere was more open. It was not a common practice for husbands to stick to their moral integrity and commit suicide due to defilement.
This was true in the former Ming Dynasty, but naturally the later Ming Dynasty became more liberal in this regard.
Therefore, the five people present in this circle actually felt that remarriage was not a big deal. The living were gone and the dead rested in peace. The living still had to live a good life.
They finally decided to visit him tomorrow, tell him the bad news, and hand him the obituary of his martyrdom.
The next day, because everyone drank too much wine last night, everyone felt very uncomfortable with the hangover, so they didn't set off until the afternoon.
Xie Wancheng stayed behind at the camp headquarters to prevent possible emergencies, while Zhou Changfeng and others drove to Sun Cheng's home.
Although he came from a family of officials, Sun Cheng was relatively distant from his family, and his residence was only a house in an alley outside Shence Gate.
Xue Can drove the car and slowly stopped at the entrance of the alley. The four of them got out of the car one after another, and then came to the front of the hospital together.
As the saying goes, there is no place to live without a yard. Although a house without a yard will be cheaper, it always feels like something is missing.
Although Sun Cheng's home has a yard, the front yard is only a few steps wide.
His wife Xu Baizhi was an operator at the Shangyuan County Telephone Station. In this era, wired calls from various places needed to be transferred through the telephone exchange at the telephone station.
Today is July 20th, which is technically a day off.
After a brief hesitation, Zhou Changfeng, who was somewhat anxious, stepped forward and knocked on the door.
