1978: A Literary Giant Who Began His Military Service

Chapter 12 "Literature and Art of the People's Liberation Army"

Military novels can be submitted to the four major magazines: People's Literature, Contemporary, October, and Harvest. However, since this was Zhou Xu's first time writing a novel, he was not careful and didn't know which magazine would accept his work.

Of course, the four major publishing houses don't exist yet; "October" and "Contemporary" haven't appeared.
Moreover, military novels have never been popular with mainstream magazines, so they simply gave it to "PLA Literature and Art," a publication in the military novel field that also holds a relatively high position in the literary world.

Because Zhou Zhigang was particularly satisfied with this novel, he sent it out directly, and it arrived in the capital.

Zhongguancun, the capital city.

The editorial department of "PLA Literature and Art".

The letter was quietly placed in the mailbox.

morning
The dirty and tiring work of distributing manuscripts and retrieving them from the mailbox is usually done by these young editors who were assigned here after graduation.

Young editor Xiao Zhang carried a bag of newly submitted manuscripts on his back, distributing them to various editors and chief editors as he walked.

The PLA Literature and Art Publishing House and magazine share the same name as him.

Aside from its main content, the company primarily deals with military novels.

Its editors are either graduates of the PLA Academy of Arts or previously engaged in military novel propaganda.

Even the ordinary workers responsible for printing were all comrades who had been demobilized from the People's Liberation Army and returned home.

Therefore, everyone in the magazine's editorial department is a soldier or a veteran.

As a result, the magazine was exceptionally well-organized and united.

He looked at the pile of manuscripts and placed it directly on Liu Jiaju's desk.

Liu Jiaju was from Chongqing. He joined the People's Liberation Army in late 1949 and participated in the Korean War. In 1962, he was transferred to the Propaganda Department of the Political Department of the 12th Army Headquarters, and later became the deputy head of the editorial group of "PLA Literature and Art".

Soon, the editorial staff began arriving at work one after another.

Liu Jiaju returned to his seat, looking at the manuscript on his desk. He didn't say anything, nor did he mention that the junior editor was targeting him.

Liu Jiaju was always a serious and extremely strict soldier and editor.

He directly disassembled the manuscript on the table.

That is, the first and thickest letter.

Upon opening the letter, the first thing I saw was its title, "Changjin Lake".

"Is this about the wars of the 1950s? That's rare!"

To avoid misunderstanding, Zhou Zhigang added a comment below: "The soldier's father was a volunteer soldier. This is based on oral accounts and has been embellished to some extent!"

Upon seeing this comment and then watching "The Battle at Lake Changjin," he immediately thought of the regiment whose vast majority of members had sacrificed their lives.

My heart stirred; I thought that a writer who knew these things must produce works that weren't bad.

For Liu Jiaju, who participated in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, his appreciation for this novel reached a new level!

"Let's see!"

Liu Jiaju lowered his head and began reading the novel.
Even he, who is usually very critical, couldn't help but shut up at this moment, and it was unclear what he was thinking at first... He had been engrossed in the novel ever since he received the manuscript.

When he finally looked up, he realized it was already midday and the sun was high in the sky. Liu Jiaju took a drag of his cigarette and couldn't help but recall the scenes from the battlefield, his heart filled with nostalgia—nostalgia for his comrades and the glorious past.

Yet, he couldn't help but feel sorrow. What was sorrowful was that after reading the novel's ending, he could always recall the scenes of his fallen comrades...

"Wow! This novel is so well-written, I didn't even know how to comment on it at first."

Liu Jiaju knew that Zhou Xu's novel had been artistically embellished. After all, as a young man who had not experienced it, he could not perfectly reproduce all of his father's oral accounts, so he could only rewrite a part of it himself.

Even so, Liu Jiaju felt that this was a work that was above average.

After all, this is the first work written by this soldier. We can't expect his novel to reach the level of the movie "Shangganling" right away, can we?
Moreover, their journal, *PLA Literature and Art*, specifically collects military novels.

Most writers who write about this kind of subject matter are soldiers, and some are graduates of literature academies. Their quality is definitely not as good as that of those highly educated people who write about educated youth.

Therefore, this work would be considered above average in other magazines, but in "PLA Literature and Art," a magazine specializing in military novels, it has already reached a score of 70.

This isn't too exaggerated.

Liu Jiaju was moved to tears after reading the novel for the first time, instead of marking it with a big X, which surprised the editor next to him.

She also had some connection with the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, as her first husband's remains were buried there.

Liu Jiaju handed the copy of "The Battle of Chosin Reservoir" to the editor, Xiao Liu. No one in this office likely had a more profound memory of this war than the two of them.

"This is a novel about the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea. Take a look! I think it's really well written."

"It's rare to see someone write about things from that side, isn't it?"

However, the other party had long since downplayed that matter, showing none of the agitation Liu Jiaju had imagined. She smiled slightly and said, "But I'm very happy that someone still remembers this matter and is willing to write a novel about it!"

I went to read a novel.

Because this novel is very sensitive, Zhou Xu borrowed from "To Live" in the beginning, writing about his interviews with his father and several of his father's comrades-in-arms...

Then the novel begins with two soldiers going to war...

In the end, the US forces encountered resistance from the Chinese People's Volunteer Army during their retreat, but due to the disparity in personnel and weaponry, the US Tenth Army, numbering over 100,000 men, ultimately withdrew from Hungnam Port. The actions of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army completely shattered MacArthur's plan to end the Korean War before Christmas, and drove the UN forces, led by the United States, back from the Yalu River to the 38th parallel, turning the tide of the Korean War and achieving a phased victory.

……

Looking at the ending, the two were stunned for a moment, and then they quickly recalled countless sad things.

Tears welled up in her eyes: "This novel... is really... really touching... I truly felt the helplessness of the Volunteer Army in the war... Did you guys experience all of this, Lao Liu?"

Hearing this, Liu Jiaju slowly nodded: "But no matter what, we still made it through in the end. We drove away the Japanese and the American imperialists! In the end, we even got our own atomic bomb! Today's China is not afraid of any invaders."

"Huff! Huff!" After composing herself, she finally asked, "Let's talk about novels instead!"

"Yes, this novel is well-written, with good writing style and ideas. Although the story has fictional elements, it is good overall, and the characters are very vivid!" Liu Jiaju said.

Liu Jiaju, who has always been fond of finding fault, and even the group leader who would "press down" the author to revise the manuscript repeatedly, were at a loss for words at this point.

"…………"

(End of this chapter)