| |
Crossing the Grasslands
(china.org.cn)
Updated: 2004-06-25 15:30 Next, they had to cross over the grasslands. It
was a five to seven day journey across an inland Sargasso Sea, which lies on the
eleven-thousand-foot plateau between the watersheds of the Yangzi and Yellow
Rivers. It looks innocent, but it was a deadly trap for the unwary. It was
covered with flowers but beneath the flowers lurked bogs that could swallow a
man in a minute. Also, there were no people, no food, and no firewood to cook.
The temperatures were just above freezing. The grass roots shifted with each
step. The muck was not only slippery, it was like glue. Once in it, you sank
deeper and deeper. The more you struggled, the faster you went down. Once they
found a pig and ate it. The following troops ate the pigskin left by the leading
troops. Mao lost more men the in the Grasslands than in the Snowies.
|
|
|
