September 5, Gyirong Port, Tibet.
It's still dark, and the chill in the valley seeps into the bones through the camouflage uniforms. At 5:30, the engine cut through the silence. Liu Yue, a cadre of a transportation brigade in the Tibet Military Region, drove from Jilong Town with six officers and soldiers, speeding along the winding mountain road towards the meal site. More than an hour later, the car stopped, the stove was set up, and the sound of clinking spatulas announced the beginning of a new day of 17 hours of "battle."
The blue sign at the meal site reads "Meal site for frontline relief workers." Behind the blue sign, tents are scattered and lunch boxes are neatly stacked. A few days ago, this was just an empty lot.
On the evening of August 29, they received the order and came from the field training area. The main business of this team is automobile transportation. From the company commander to the soldiers, most of them are the hands holding the steering wheel. There were not enough cooks in a certain task unit. After arriving in Geelong, they changed their identities on the spot and used the stove as their new fighting position. On the afternoon of September 2, the mission was upgraded again: going out to the disaster-stricken core area of Jilong Port to provide hot food support for military and civilian rescue forces.
The site was selected at around 4pm, and the frontline workers were required to have meals at 6:30pm. If there is no stove, we set up four tables and two large pots; if there is no chopping board, we squat on the hydraulic tailgate at the rear of the car to chop vegetables. That day's dinner was cooked while squatting on the ground.
The most touching thing is not the difficult conditions, but the "warm" energy beside the stove.
In addition to the army officers and soldiers led by Liu Yue, there are also several comrades from the Shigatse Detachment of the Armed Police Force. They do not distinguish between you and me. When they stop in front of the stove, they all agree on one thing: "No matter which unit they come from, the purpose is to give the frontline rescuers a hot meal." They are divided into groups according to their specialties. Who is good at cutting vegetables, who is good at cooking, and who is good at cooking staple food? The division of labor is clear. When it came to ordering recipes, counting people, and applying for supplies, Liu Yue and the detachment leader Li Feng got together to discuss, and military democracy fell into the pots and pans. Some soldiers said that this may be the first time they have seen such a team working together.
In addition to the stove, there are 10 local volunteers who arrive on time at 8 o'clock every day to help wash vegetables, pick vegetables, and pack lunch boxes. People in camouflage uniforms and casual clothes are busy together, they are all comrades working side by side in disaster relief. At peak times, there are 800 people each at noon and evening. The rice steaming truck can steam up to 70 kilograms of rice in one pot. If it is not enough, it is steamed one pot after another. It takes more than two hours to just cut a dish. Two large pots are stir-frying at the same time. Sparks dance on the bottom of the pot and the light of the knife flashes on the chopping board. Liu Yue said: "Yesterday, the young man's kitchen knife was full of sparks!"
Without full-time cooks, the soldiers are still the same group of soldiers - the drivers on the transport vehicles and the top players in the competition field. This battalion has won the first place in the brigade's "Pilgrim Warrior Cup" mass training competition group score for two consecutive years. It can win battles on the training ground and can withstand the battle at the stove.
First Class Sergeant Gou Jiacheng, who has 16 years of military service, will reach the end of his service on December 1 this year. It was originally planned to rotate down the mountain in September, but after hearing about the mission, I was "reluctant to go down". Everything in the kitchen, big and small, rests on his shoulders. Working hard and taking the lead in both big and small matters, veterans can still set a good example in front of the stove.
Corporal Zhang Shuo is responsible for docking supplies and oil, and his accounts are clear. When he was not sorting out the accounts, he spent all his time on the cutting table. His hands were blistered and swollen, and no one heard him complain.
At around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, a group of 17 geological experts from Beijing went to the core area to survey the mountain risks. They did not bother to eat at noon. When soldier Pu Jianglong heard about it, he immediately put down what he was doing and cooked up more than a dozen rice bowls in less than 20 minutes. The experts took the lunch box and repeatedly said, "It's delicious."
At the end of the day, 17 hours. Starting at 5:30 in the morning and finishing at around 10:00 at night. There is a big temperature difference between day and night on the plateau. Washing vegetables in cold water makes your hands stiff and your legs feel like they are filled with lead after standing for a long time. But no one complained, no one flinched. When they see rescue workers passing by a meal site, officers and soldiers will always take the initiative to say hello: "Have you eaten?" If not, they will quickly serve them a portion.
Night once again enveloped Jilonggou, and the stove fire had not yet been extinguished. A hot meal gave the rebels the confidence to continue charging.
