Just from the telephone short-number, you could determine whether the caller was an internal mber, as well as their identity.
"Ah, yes! 711121!"
710, 711, 712, are prefixes for the Provincial Brigade, with 710 being for governnt agencies. If the number following it is 710001, then it’s either the Regintal commander or Political Commissar, in short, a secretary, a mber of the brigade’s party committee—they’re all within the "71000X" range.
signifies the large teams and Special Duty within the city area.
is for the county teams.
The prefix 711 for Cao Yi signals that he belonged to the larger squadron.
The suffix 121, the first "1" represents the Special Duty Squad number, the second "2" indicates the Second Squadron number, and the third "1" signifies Cao Yi’s number—as the squadron’s secretary, his number is 1.
If it was Ye Jiahong, his number would be 711122; Captain Zhang would have 711123, and Wu Di would have 711124.
For Leader Huang of the First Squadron, it would be 711111.
Don’t ask how nine digits could suffice for a Squadron’s use—these short-numbers are reserved for cadres, governnt agency soldiers, and soldiers holding positions.
Short number calls are free of charge, facilitating work connections and allowing one to find the responsible individuals of a unit without needing to rember phone numbers.
Moreover, in a Squadron, there wouldn’t be more than nine individuals who usually have the privilege of using a cell phone—the cadres, Logistics Officer, Non-commissioned officer platoon leader, and the Squadron Leader’s assistant.
The rest are not allowed to use it regularly. According to regulations, they can only use it when work demands.
Other soldiers or leadership family mbers, even if they sought connections to obtain an internal short-number through the brigade’s communication departnt, would get numbers from the segnts not used by any units.
Therefore, knowing his number, the caller could tell he was a senior-ranking Squadron Leader and directly asked:
"Hello, may I ask your current location?"
This question was a bit tricky.
Back then, there were no mobile navigation systems, and the 119 service did not have a location system. Identifying places relied solely on the dispatcher’s and the Squadron Leaders’ familiarity with the area.
Cao Yi could only say, "We left Zi Yun over half an hour ago, right? We’ve traveled about 20 kiloters! There are so many curves! More than a dozen!"
There was silence on the other end, but indistinct chatter could be heard.
Soon, a male voice ca through the phone:
"More than a dozen curves? Consecutively?"
"Right!"
"Have you descended the mountain?"
"We have!"
"Then you should have reached Lujia Gou by now. Continue forward for about ten more kiloters, and you’ll first reach Dayi Town. Our Detachnt’s people are over there. The road condition is complicated, and there are villagers along the way. It’s best to ask them for directions! We will send the alarm information to your short number shortly!"
Only then did Cao Yi start to have an idea of where they were, and he nodded in response:
"Understood!"
A voice ca from the other side, "There are many alerts tonight! There are landslides along the way, pay attention to safety! Thanks for the reinforcent!"
"Of course!"
Cao Yi hung up the phone.
As he drove, Squad Leader Fang also got the picture, watching for residents on both sides of the road.
Shortly after, the ssage was delivered to Cao Yi’s phone.
After looking at it for a while, Cao Yi picked up his Two-Way Radio and said, "The few vehicles behind, keep up. We’re now headed to Bianwang Village in Dayi Town. The roads there are rather circuitous."
Ye Jiahong’s voice ca through, "What’s the situation over there?"
Cao Yi, looking at his cell phone, replied, "There’s an alert, saying there’s a two-story house that’s been flooded nearly two ters deep with two elderly people inside, one of them paralyzed, along with a child, who cannot be moved."
"Received."
The people in all four vehicles tensed up upon hearing this news.
"Elderly people, a child, no strong labor force at ho? When the flood ca, why didn’t they run?" Zhang Yang couldn’t help asking.
"The strong labor force must have gone out to work. In such families with only the elderly and a paralyzed person, after heavy rain, and with two stories, why would they run? They surely went upstairs to hide. As they hid, the water rose, and then they couldn’t escape," Hao Chengbin said as he looked out the window and sighed.
Hearing this, Zhang Yang also looked out the window, his eyes filled with complexity, and he mused, "If my house was flooded, my parents probably wouldn’t want to run either. They’d even go to the fields to collect potatoes. If I were there, I could help them."
At that mont, Cao Yi turned around and said, "Every family is pretty much the sa. Aren’t Squad Leader Zhao and Squad Leader Sun also only children? Once you’re discharged, and your pay improves, the most practical thing is to send more money ho to better your family’s living conditions. Don’t overthink the rest."
Zhang Yang was a key mber who was definitely going to stay as he was among this year’s "soon-to-be discharged." Cao Yi’s relentless pressure on Zhang Yang was because there were so few young Non-commissioned officer cadres in the Squadron, and Zhang Yang was soone he had brought up himself. He wanted to shape him into sothing presentable.
Cao Yi had almost given up on Zhang Yang, who still didn’t seem to be shaping up after the second year. But then Fang Huai ca along and managed to spur him into action. Now Zhang Yang had beco more grounded and was starting to look like a NCO. Naturally, Cao Yi was very pleased.
With only half a year left until discharge, right at the mont of doubt, in two more months, he would need to fill out the "Intention to Stay" form. It was imperative that his thoughts remained untroubled at this ti.
After Cao Yi spoke, seeing that Zhang Yang did not respond, he turned again to look at Fang Huai.
Fang Huai rolled his eyes.
With Squad Leader Zhao, who had ntored Zhang Yang for a year, right beside him, Cao Yi wondered, what are you looking at for?
I’m not the Deputy Instructor!
But as Cao Yi kept looking at him, persistent as if he had a neck condition, Fang Huai could only touch his nose and smile at Zhang Yang:
"Squad Leader Zhang, you’re about the sa age as . At our age, if you can manage yourself well and keep sending that planned 500 yuan back ho on ti, you’re already doing well.
"Go back to do what?
"To farm? Our family only has that much land. If we don’t farm, wouldn’t we still have to go out and find work?"
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