1978: A Literary Giant Who Began His Military Service

Chapter 36 Group Study
Gao Ruxing's unexpected reaction is not surprising, after all, this is "The Song of a Strong Army," one of the most famous revolutionary songs and military songs in China.

Bai Hua was also stunned. He didn't expect Gao Ruxing to be so excited. He couldn't read the sheet music, so of course he couldn't understand the lyrics!

"What is it? Is this song really that good?"

Bai Hua frowned. Zhou Xu had this kind of talent? Was writing novels not enough to suppress his excellence? Was he also a genius at writing songs?

Gao Ruxing snapped out of her reverie and hummed, "I thought this song was exceptionally good just by listening to it once in my head. I can't even imagine what it would be like if the whole army played it together!"

Bai Hua rolled her eyes at him: "Sing a couple of lines for me."

"Now?"

"Yes! You're all so excited, I don't even know what the song is!"

"Wait, let me warm up my voice!"

It's impossible for someone who studies music not to be able to sing. Whether they sound good or not is another matter, but they generally won't go off-key. Gao Ruxing tried it out and ended up singing a short piece:
"Ahhhh~"
Listen! The bugle call of a new journey has sounded!

The goal of building a strong military calls forth from the front!

If our nation is to become strong, then we must shoulder our responsibilities!

The battle flag is inscribed with the glory of iron and blood!

Tsk!
Gao Ruxing sang for a short while and then stopped.

Bai Hua was pondering over there that if someone who spends a lot of time in the performing arts troupe doesn't appreciate songs, then his position as director is truly useless!

He was absolutely certain he could tell right from wrong. "I felt a strong sense of righteousness from the lyrics! Now that you've sung it, I feel that even more strongly. If the whole company sang it together, the spirit of going to the front lines would be even stronger!!"

"Director, you still haven't told me where this song came from. Did the General Political Department issue it to us before we go to the front lines?"

Gao Ruxing felt that such a high-quality song must have a special historical mission! So he naturally mixed it with the highest-level orders for preparation.

Moreover, the General Political Department has a much larger pool of talent than the military regions!

Bai Hua didn't hide it from Gao Ruxing any longer. She shook her head and said, word by word, "It was written by Zhou Xu. He just handed it in, so I called you over to review it. I can't read sheet music."

"Huh?" Gao Ruxing thought she must have misheard!
"A song written by Zhou Xu?"

Isn't this guy a writer?

Bai Hua said with delight, "I had the same feeling as you just now, but after looking at his information, I found out that this kid used to study erhu... and also studied music. It seems that he wrote the song through hard work!"

This is incredible! Gao Ruxing's mind was buzzing. He had never formally attended university, only learned a musical instrument, and taught himself everything else. Yet he could still write such excellent songs. Could this man really be the legendary genius?

Mozart began composing at the age of 5, wrote his first symphony at the age of 8, and composed his first four piano concertos at the age of 11.

Wow! Is Zhou Xu our Mozart?
Gao Ruxing thought to herself, then said, "This song is excellent. It seems I didn't realize he had this kind of talent before!"

"Huh? I was wondering if this song could be performed by an instrumental ensemble?"

Gao Ruxing thought for a moment: "This song has a very simple tune, and ordinary soldiers can learn it easily! I think the cultural troupe can learn it first, and when they have time to go down to the companies in the future, they can go down and teach the companies to sing!"

How simple are military songs?

For example, new recruits who have just registered for enlistment at the Armed Forces Department Revolutionary Committee will be taught a song and sung several times in ten minutes!
A group of people can learn the tune in no time! Then they'll be paraded through the streets singing the military songs they just learned!
That's what makes military songs special!

Some popular music, like David Tao's songs, with their gliding, melody... is really hard to learn in a short time.

So, we set aside a day to train the members of the cultural troupe, and then had them go to the companies to teach new songs as representatives. The process was very quick.

Of course, this doesn't mean that if you learn very quickly, the training in the performing arts troupe is unnecessary.

The requirements for performing arts troupes are often very high. The instruments must be played accurately, and the singers must pronounce every word precisely. It's not like the grassroots troops where you just need to learn the basics.

Just like everyone knows the "Yellow River Cantata," but there are also specialized choirs performing it, and their choral singing is on a completely different level from that of ordinary people.

"Alright! I'll call Lei Yuansheng and the political commissar over to discuss it!" Bai Hua nodded.

Gao Ruxing walked out of the office, feeling slightly surprised about the song.

He returned to his office and called out, "Lei Yuansheng, Zhou Xu, come out for a meeting!"

Zhou Xu was never invited to meetings before, because he was still a newcomer, a young person who had just joined the creative studio. Even Lei Yuansheng was surprised that Zhou Xu was invited to the meeting today.

"Hey! Comrade Zhou Xu, you've been promoted?"

Zhou Xu said, "Haha, Comrade Lei, I hope so too!"

The two walked into the office.

There were only the political commissar, Bai Hua, and the squad leader of the cultural troupe over there. Zhou Xu had rarely had contact with him before; his name should be Zhang Yi.

Bai Hua handed the several copies of the sheet music he had just copied to Lei Yuansheng and the political commissar.

Of those present, only two hadn't seen it.

If even Gao Ruxing understands just how well this song was written, then Lei Yuansheng in front of him is even less of a surprise. Don't let his age fool you; he's not even thirty yet, but he's the conductor of the cultural troupe's band!
The subsequent music arrangement for this song will still need his conducting!
"hiss……"

Lei Yuansheng felt an itch on the top of his head.

"Hehe." Gao Ruxing laughed as she looked at him.

The political commissar and Lei Yuansheng looked on in surprise.

The two then revealed that the song was written by Zhou Xu.

Even they didn't know that they would be going to the front lines in a month, so they didn't know that Zhou Xu wrote this song specifically for combat.

Lei Yuansheng, on the other hand, wore the exact same expression as Gao Ruxing, looking at Zhou Xu with utter disbelief! He never expected the person in front of him to have such talent!

Lei Yuansheng recalled the time he had looked down on others and felt utterly ashamed! Utterly ashamed!
"This is really well written. Shall we give this song to the Political Department first?"

Before a new song can be practiced in the performing arts troupe, it must be approved by the political department. This is the power of these old leaders, so the four of them were just discussing whether the song was good or not!

then!

soon.

In the afternoon, the political commissar took the song to the political department.

Zhou Zhigang, who was in charge of reviewing the song, said: "Huh? Who wrote this song? Lei Yuansheng or Gao Ruxing? I don't think they could have written it this well?"

The political commissar said, "This was written by Zhou Xu, whom you specially assigned to write last time, old leader."

Zhou Zhigang was a beat slow in drinking his tea!
"What?"

"It was written by Comrade Zhou Xu; we watched him write it."

Zhou Zhigang silently signed: "This song is very well written and you can practice it. I won't say anything else. Try to do it as soon as possible. We'll need you to perform next time we have a performance!"

Zhou Zhigang, being in the center of the military region, knew far more information than these people.

In March 1978, the Vietnamese authorities dispatched armed personnel to occupy Tinghao Mountain, where they dug trenches, built bunkers, and laid landmines, extending the obstacle zone into Chinese territory. On November 1, members of the Hurun Commune in Jingxi County, Guangxi, and militia members were attacked by Vietnamese armed police and militia while clearing roadblocks illegally set up by the Vietnamese side within Chinese territory. Many Chinese personnel were killed or wounded, and some were captured and killed.

This was the trigger.

The battle order had already been issued, so Zhou Zhigang wanted to let the soldiers hear such beautiful music before the battle.

Invigorating music!
(End of this chapter)