The review room of the Propaganda Department.
Staff were decompressing videos and uploading them to the player.
The leaders and cadres sitting around the table below had already begun to discuss the promotional film, which had not yet been reviewed, in hushed tones.
Among the discussing crowd, Lin You's group was the liveliest.
“Major Lin, you’ve been to the Capital Military Region and met Gao Fei. This promotional film was produced under his leadership. What’s your evaluation of this person’s capabilities?”
A Second Lieutenant was the first to ask.
Lin You, surrounded by the others, shook his head and chuckled, “He’s just a child, what’s there to evaluate?”
As soon as he finished speaking, another officer, a Captain, followed up, “Old Lin, we’re all on the same side. We weren’t present at the previous meeting. We only heard that Old Lu mentioned his idea for the promotional film, but it was opposed by many people.
Can you give us some specific details first, so we have a better understanding?”
“There’s nothing to mention, you’ll know when you watch it later!”
Lin You waved his hand and continued, “In short, Comrade Xiao Gao’s idea is very whimsical. A bit naive.
What should a promotional film promote? It should be the strength and heritage of the army.
His filming idea doesn’t align with these, so it will definitely be opposed by many!”
Nearly half of the people present had not attended the meeting about the promotional film.
They only knew that the leaders and Old Lu had disagreements about the filming of the promotional film.
Now that the Capital Military Sub-region had finished producing the video, they all wanted to get some information about the content of the promotional film in advance.
Lin You, as one of the parties involved, did not reveal anything.
His implication was that Gao Fei’s filming would definitely not be as good as his own, so he couldn’t be bothered to mention it.
Just as everyone was chattering and discussing, Chen Guoli, the head of the Propaganda Department, coughed heavily, and everyone immediately fell silent.
“Any opinions can be voiced after watching!”
Everyone nodded silently and sat down obediently in their seats.
A moment later, the promotional film was uploaded. Lu Yuan led the members of the review group into the screening room.
Everyone in the room, led by Minister Chen, stood up in unison.
“Yuan Jun!”
“Guoli, you’re here too, have a seat!”
Minister Chen Guoli, who wore a general’s star, was the same age as Old Lu.
The two had been comrades-in-arms in their youth and had participated in many battles, big and small.
Apart from disagreements and differing opinions on work matters, they were also good friends in private.
After Elder Chen and Elder Lu were seated, the officers and cadres in the back sat back down.
“Play it!”
“Yes!”
*Clang!*
The lights were turned off one by one, and the screening room gradually darkened.
The computer projection appeared on the screen in front.
The projectionist clicked on the video, and the promotional film officially began to play.
“When you put on a uniform, you are a soldier…”
“In the army, soldiers must regard obeying orders as their sacred duty…”
“Every extra minute of training today means one less drop of blood shed on the battlefield…”
“All attention, light march, three kilometers…”
“All attention, prepare for push-ups…”
The forceful shouts of the squad leaders in the recruit company caused the speakers, teacups, and other items to vibrate slightly.
The original sound at the beginning was very novel and immediately captured everyone’s attention.
After the original shouts ended, accompanied by the prelude of the music, there were various recorded scenes of the new recruits on the training ground and firing range.
As the music was about to reach its climax, the scene of a five-kilometer march with loaded packs appeared.
The squad leader shouted under the camera, and the recruits gritted their teeth and fought for the last kilometer.
With Gao Fei’s voice cracking song, it immediately made the officers in the screening room get goosebumps.
After the first segment of the video and music ended, it quickly moved into the second segment.
In the picture, the slow tempo of the accompaniment and the heavy atmosphere before the battle made the viewers feel suppressed.
It wasn't until the political instructor gave a mobilization speech before the military exercise, and the recruits boarded vehicles to rush to the battlefield, that everyone let out a sigh of relief.
The scene of boarding the vehicle turned.
The next second, the skyward flames of an explosion illuminated the dimly lit screening room.
Smoke billowed, and explosions continued.
The recruits were engaged in a gunfight in the forest, constantly breaking through, constantly fighting back…
The scenes filmed from various angles during the military exercise, accompanied by that passionate, voice-cracking song.
It stirred up the fighting spirit in the hearts of the officers present, and the passion of their youth surged back.
A Major officer, who was watching the promotional film, suddenly shouted, “Wrong, wrong, break through from the right flank…”
His shout jolted everyone back to reality.
But it also fully demonstrated that Gao Fei’s promotional film had drawn everyone into the scene.
The military exercise video ended, and the music came to an abrupt halt.
Just as everyone thought it was over, the camera suddenly shook.
A young man, with bloodstains on his face and blood foam in his mouth, looking no more than twenty years old, appeared on the screen.
“Xiao Wu, Xiao Wu… don’t sleep, wake up quickly, Xiao Wu…”
A hurried cry came.
The young soldier slowly opened his eyes, his gaze unfocused.
The soldier weakly opened his mouth and said with his last bit of strength, “Company Commander… have the enemies retreated?… Give me my gun… I can still fight…”
“They’re gone, you’ve driven them all away!”
The Company Commander shouted with a choked voice, “Xiao Wu, you must not sleep, listen to your Company Commander, don’t sleep… When we get back, I’ll have the mess hall make your favorite steamed fish…”
“Company Commander… I haven’t disgraced the soldiers of our Dragon Country… I haven’t disgraced the Wu family… I’m so tired… Company Commander… really so tired…”
The soldier’s breath grew weaker and weaker, and blood foam continuously spurted from his mouth.
Amidst the Company Commander’s anxious shouts, he still left, falling into a peaceful sleep…
When the scene ended, a line of subtitles appeared on the screen.
“In the year xxxx, on October 15th, our northern border was invaded by foreign enemies.
Wu Longlong, only twenty years old, repelled and killed fifteen enemies. During the battle, he sustained a gunshot wound to the abdomen and died after all rescue efforts failed!”
After the subtitles ended, another video appeared. The camera showed a jungle area.
A soldier, dressed in camouflage combat uniform, lay in a pool of blood, with two daggers inserted into his abdomen, the blood dyeing his clothes an incredibly deep red.
But he tightly held a criminal who had already died in his hands, with two other criminals who had also been killed lying on either side.
“Da Lin… Da Lin… wake up, Da Lin!”
An anxious cry made the soldier slowly wake up.
“Squad Leader….”
“Don’t speak, Da Lin, hold on, you must hold on…”
The Squad Leader’s voice trembled, and his hands holding the soldier also trembled.
“Medical team, medical team, what are you doing, hurry up and save him, I… hurry…”
“Squad Leader…”
The soldier weakly pulled the Squad Leader’s hand with two fingers, and a smile appeared on his blood-stained face, “Squad Leader… tell my parents… I can’t go home for New Year’s… Help me tell Xiu Xiu… I’ll marry her in the next life…
I… I… in the next life… I want to be a soldier again…”
The soldier was very weak. After speaking, he was on his last breath.
The Squad Leader’s eyes were red, and his hands trembled as he held the soldier, “Da Lin, you can’t sleep, your parents are still waiting for you to go home, your girlfriend is still waiting for you to marry her, you can’t sleep, Da Lin…”
No matter how the Squad Leader shouted, the soldier eventually closed his eyes and fell asleep in his arms…