In early summer, amidst the lush foliage, at the duty room of a depot under the Shenyang Joint Logistics Support Center, sentry Dai Wei sat in front of an intelligent equipment monitoring platform, staring at the screen, vigilantly surveying the surrounding area of the depot.
Following Dai Wei's gaze, a winding protective wall was clearly visible on the screen. Crossing mountains, valleys, streams, and forests, this protective wall stretching over 20 kilometers, like open arms, tightly embraced the scattered depot area.
The green mountains are silent, the wall is speechless, but they have witnessed the story of several party committees and successive batches of officers and soldiers working together to build the wall—spanning nearly a decade, several generations of depot guards relied on shoulder carrying, hand holding, and back carrying to transport bricks up the mountain and build the wall, creating a solid barrier for the depot.
The story dates back 18 years.
This depot is located in the midst of mountains, covering an area of dozens of square kilometers. For ease of management, officers and soldiers had installed barbed wire around the depot for control, but still, some unaware civilians crossed the protective net to cut firewood, graze livestock, and pick fruits in the restricted area. "The restricted area is not restricted," and hidden dangers were hard to eliminate, causing great concern among the officers and soldiers.
"The depot stores strategic materials vital to national security. Once it encounters fire or deliberate destruction, the consequences are unimaginable. We must find a way to fundamentally address the protective hazards." In early spring of 2008, the depot party committee decided to build a solid protective wall around the depot area. However, the depot area was surrounded by mountains, steep slopes, and ravines, making it difficult for large construction machinery to enter. The depot contacted several local engineering teams, but after understanding the construction difficulty, they all declined.
"We guard the depot, not just by guarding the area, but by guarding it well, guarding it firmly, and guarding it as solid as an iron bastion." The then director of the depot, a veteran with 30 years of service, advocated at the party committee meeting that the officers and soldiers should build the wall themselves. Some expressed concerns: constructing in the deep mountains was not only harsh but also had a long construction period and slow results. With only the depot's manpower, it would be impossible to build it in a short time. If it became a "half-finished project," it would be better not to do it.
"As long as it benefits the safety of the depot, it's worth doing. Even if we have to carry it on our backs, we must build a wall!" Eventually, the depot party committee reached a consensus, establishing the goal of "building a section each year, encircling completely in ten years" and issued a call to all officers and soldiers: "If one generation can't finish, the next generation will continue."
On the day of the mobilization ceremony for the start of construction, the then party committee leaders, carrying brick-carrying frames and holding tools such as shovels and pickaxes, stood in front of all officers and soldiers, leading the oath: "Carry bricks and stones up the mountain, build an iron wall."
Carrying bricks and stones up the steep slopes was unimaginably difficult. Thorny undergrowth, no roads underfoot, a slight misstep could lead to falling down the mountain. The officers and soldiers did not retreat. Some carried on their backs, some on their shoulders, some in their arms, shouting slogans to encourage each other. From afar, the figures bending down to carry bricks and climbing hard formed a spectacular torrent of camouflage.
The then director of the depot was short in stature, but each time he carried about 140 jin (70 kg) of red bricks leading the way. His wife advised him: "You're about to retire, why work so hard? Take it easy!" But he did not slack off: "Building the protective wall is of long-term benefit. As long as I am in office, I must take the lead."
Senior engineer Xu, who was over fifty, had just had surgery and was still recovering. The leaders cared for him and did not let him go up the mountain, but he quietly joined the brick-carrying team. When the soldiers discovered him and advised him to rest, he said: "If I can't carry 20 bricks, I'll carry 10. No matter how many I can carry, I must fight together with everyone."
Depot staff officer Wang Baozhu, in order to squeeze out more time to carry bricks, worked late every Friday night to handle his tasks, and as soon as Saturday dawned, he carried bricks up the mountain. "Senior Engineer Xu set an example, and we young cadres should even more be responsible!" he said.
...
Cadres set an example, and soldiers competed to work. They spontaneously formed party member commando teams and league member reserve teams, actively carried out inter-squad challenges and brick-carrying competitions; veterans about to be discharged took the initiative to work until the day before leaving; new soldiers, soon after joining the camp, threw themselves into the wall-building battle... Every officer and soldier was unwilling to fall behind. According to estimates, some soldiers worked from enlistment until discharge, carrying tens of thousands of red bricks up the mountain each year.
Depot party committee leaders changed one after another, and officers and soldiers came and went, but the work of carrying bricks and building walls never stopped. Over nearly a decade, the entire depot's officers and soldiers, carrying on their backs and shoulders, transported more than 3.6 million red bricks, over 900 tons of cement, and more than 4,530 cubic meters of sand and stone to the mountain ridge, finally building a protective wall over 20 kilometers long around the depot.
On the day of the encircling ceremony, when the last red brick was laid into the protective wall, the former leaders who participated in the wall building had already been transferred or retired, and most of the first batch of soldiers who participated in the wall building had also returned to their hometowns. They did not witness this moment, but their sweat and effort had already merged into each red brick of the protective wall.
"Those who plant trees should not just enjoy the shade," the depot leaders made it clear. The "encirclement" of the protective wall does not mean "resting easy." They organize officers and soldiers for regular annual maintenance and repair. Moreover, in recent years, with the rapid development of unmanned intelligent equipment, new security threats such as drone intrusions and high-altitude espionage have become increasingly prominent. After taking office, the new depot party committee actively introduced technical means such as fire monitoring and warning systems and intelligent perimeter alarm systems, building an unmanned intelligent security system with wider coverage and faster response, using technology to build a "electronic protective wall" that senses at all times.
"Success does not have to be in my term, but success must have my contribution." The depot leader told reporters that they, combined with the ongoing study and education on establishing and practicing a correct view of performance, use this wall-building experience as educational material to guide party members and cadres to continuously strengthen their correct view of performance and do all work meticulously and effectively. (Wang Haitao, Tao Jiapeng, Wang Xuechao)
"Continue Doing" and "Continue Breaking New Ground"
■ Zhang Di
A depot under the Shenyang Joint Logistics Support Center took nearly a decade, with several generations of officers and soldiers carrying on their backs and shoulders, building a solid safety barrier in the deep mountains where engineering machinery could not reach. This experience of "building a wall in the deep mountains" is a vivid manifestation of the performance view that "success does not have to be in my term, but success must have my contribution."
True achievements require "continue doing." Over nearly a decade, the depot's party committee leaders changed one after another, and officers and soldiers came and went. Even if they might not witness the "encirclement" of the protective wall, they always focused on the same goal and fulfilled the same responsibility, using persistence and tenacity to "draw a blueprint to the end."
True achievements also require "continue breaking new ground." The new party committee of the depot did not "rely on the big tree to enjoy the shade." Instead, they keenly responded to the new threats of the information intelligence era, introduced an unmanned intelligent security system, and built an "electronic barrier" on top of the physical wall, turning "predecessors plant trees, descendants enjoy the shade" into "predecessors plant trees, descendants cultivate trees," continuously writing a new chapter of relay hard work for achievements.
The view of performance is the "steering wheel" for party members and cadres, determining the direction and effectiveness of work. "Continue doing" and "continue breaking new ground" are exactly the inspiration this "wall" gives us: be willing to lay the groundwork, not seek temporary merit; and bravely open up new situations of the times, not neglect the responsibility of the post. Only then can the relay baton of the cause be passed steadily and well.
