The Army Returns Home

When I wrote the story "The Return of the Army", I always had two types of people in my heart: one type were the retired soldiers who guarded the border for thousands of miles and gave their youth to the border; the other type were the rural people who took root in their hometown in the mountains and made a living by guarding the thin fields all their lives. Many local novels and veteran novels on the market either write the protagonist as a cheating cheat all the way, who has resources thrown at him when he returns to his hometown, and the difficulties are easily overcome; or they deliberately exaggerate the tragedy and write about the countryside as completely hopeless, but real life is never black and white. This is also the creative background that I most want to maintain in writing "The Return of the Army" - to refuse the floating filter and write about the down-to-earth struggle and perseverance of ordinary people. The protagonist, Wang Sanshou, has been guarding northern Xinjiang for twenty-four years. He took off his military uniform and returned to a remote mountain village. He has no abundant resettlement resources and no stable job arranged in the city. He only has a straight spine honed in the military and a military background engraved in his bones that "will not hide when encountering difficulties and dare to carry them when encountering difficulties." As soon as he landed at the entrance of the village, the first hurdle was the neighborhood boundary dispute. Liu Laogen's stubbornness, the suspicion of the whole village, and the private cynicism of others came all at once. No one looked up to him because he was a soldier. In everyone's eyes, he was just an ordinary person who had been wandering outside for half his life and still returned to his hometown to work in farming. This is the most realistic situation I captured after visiting countless veterans: Returning to your hometown with glory does not mean that you can immediately gain everyone's trust. Human entanglements and interests will not automatically disappear just because you have worn a military uniform. At the beginning of the story, there is no rush to build industries and carry out major development. Instead, it first writes about the most down-to-earth rural emergencies such as rainstorm rescue and river embankment seepage. I always believe that the original intention of retired soldiers returning home is never to start a large-scale business and make a lot of money as soon as they come back, but to have an emergency responsibility engraved in their bones. Years of emergency rescue training in the military camp ended up on a narrow river embankment in a mountain village, turning into trivial daily tasks of carrying sandbags, guarding embankment slopes, and overnight transfers of elderly people living alone. A simple volunteer team of veterans put together by five people, with no wages or subsidies, relying solely on enthusiasm. Others did not understand, and secretly said that they were messing around to gain fame. These trivial rumors are all common in real villages. I deliberately do not glorify the villagers. Some are simple and kind, while others are short-sighted and selfish. Local small businessmen like Sun Wang spread rumors, secretly interfere, make false accusations, destroy crops, and maliciously suppress sales out of their own interests. A series of conflicts unfold layer by layer, not to create bloody conflicts, but to restore the real competition and selfishness in the development of rural industries. Many readers will ask, why set up so many ordeals? From land boundary conflicts and grievances in neighborhood canals, to rumors circulating in mountainous areas, anonymous false accusations, and malicious damage to medicinal fields, to external middlemen teaming up to lower prices, severe flood prevention, and funding gaps for production expansion, one problem after another weighed on Wang Sanshou and the volunteer team, leaving almost no chance to breathe. My answer is simple: rural revitalization is never a smooth road. The policy tracks of digital agriculture, specialty planting, agricultural tourism and research, and cross-village alliances sound bright, but they fall on every village and every farmer. They have to face numerous obstacles such as fragmented land, divided people, shortage of funds, blocked sales channels, and solidified concepts. It is more difficult for veterans to start a business. They understand discipline and are willing to endure hardships, but they are not familiar with the twists and turns of local customs and do not understand the secret games in the business world. Every trial and error step and every reconciliation requires more patience than ordinary people. All plots in the book are supported by realistic prototypes. I have interviewed dozens of veterans who have returned to their hometowns offline. Some returned to their hometowns to coordinate land transfers but were collectively resisted by the villagers. Some engaged in specialty planting but local vendors jointly blocked the market. Some voluntarily formed volunteer teams to help left-behind elderly people and suffered constant gossip. I have also seen that when villages and towns develop together, disagreements arise due to income distribution and labor sharing. Neighboring villages are wary of each other, making it difficult to reach a consensus. The settings in the book of sharing agricultural skills across villages, jointly building industries among four villages, and mutual assistance between veterans from the north and the south are exactly the warmth I wanted to fully record after seeing those veterans break the barriers and join hands to coexist. You can't go far alone. Rural revitalization is never a heroic epic of one person. It is a long road that can only be completed by a group of people and an entire region supporting each other. There is no perfect saint in the story. Wang Sanshou has a weakness. He has suffered from old injuries at the border all year round. He is exhausted after running around day and night. Faced with overwhelming rumors and endless malicious attempts, he will remain silent late at night and sit alone under the old locust tree in confusion; Volunteer Team Li Hu and Zhao Qiang inside will also be shaken, and they will have the idea of ​​giving up when they encounter a difficult road ahead and the villagers are unappreciative; even Liu Laogen, who was tit-for-tat at first, and Sun Wang, who made trouble at every turn, are not purely bad people. Liu Laogen's dispute over land boundaries is due to farmers' deep-rooted emphasis on their own land; Sun Wang's obstruction at every step is just a small businessman's fear of damaging his own interests. I don't want to create flat good and evil characters. The countryside is a place where human relationships are intertwined. There are no absolute good guys and bad guys. Most of them are ordinary people who are trapped by their livelihood and selfishness. Conflicts can be resolved, people's hearts can be softened, and a heavy rain, a good harvest, and a real profit can dissolve the long-term estrangement. This is the unique tenderness of the countryside. In the design of the industrial line, I insist on proceeding from the shallower to the deeper, step by step, and reject the exaggerated plot that can be accomplished overnight. Wang Sanshou did not build a large-scale factory as soon as he returned to his hometown. Instead, he started by mediating neighborhood conflicts and forming a small volunteer team. He first solved small livelihood matters such as flood prevention and elderly care services, and gradually accumulated the trust of the villagers. Later, he tried to transfer small pieces of mountainous land to produce special medicinal materials. He encountered rumors, false accusations, and the destruction of medicinal fields. Someone comes directly from the sky to help. You have to sort out the accounts, collect evidence, go door to door to settle accounts, and use real data to dispel everyone's concerns; wait until the medicinal materials industry is stabilized, then extend the sorting, warehousing, and export channels, link up with surrounding villages and towns to build a veteran mutual aid alliance, develop research and agricultural tourism, and open up a complete industrial chain. Each step of expansion has corresponding problems and corresponding solutions. Fund advances, farmers' dividends, quality control, and cross-village division of rights and responsibilities are all written down in detail. All rules are written in black and white, and they are open and transparent. This is also the foundation for the long-term establishment of rural industries in reality. At the same time, I pay special attention to the hidden line of "veteran inheritance". The local volunteer team in Guhuai Village has grown from five people. Veterans from northern Xinjiang have formed a group to go south to help each other. Veterans from surrounding villages and towns have taken turns to come to learn and exchange, build online and offline two-way assistance channels, and open veteran charity lectures.

Dear book friends, after seeing that the crisis in the medicine field has completely subsided in Chapter 28, I want to have a good chat with you about the original intention of writing this book "The Return of the Army to the Homeland". Many readers asked me why I wrote about veterans returning to their villages to revitalize the countryside. In fact, the inspiration comes from countless retired soldiers who have quietly taken root in the countryside. They dedicated their best youth to the border, took off their military uniforms and returned to their homeland, with no halo blessing or special treatment. They only had the responsibility and resilience trained by the army. They returned to the mountain villages full of human disputes and lack of resources, and faced head-on conflicts over homesteads, neighborhood grievances, and industrial development problems. The perseverance of this group of ordinary people is rarely written down in detail. This is also my original intention in writing about Wang Sanshou. The protagonist Wang Sanshou is not a cool hero with a golden finger. He has no huge savings, no connections, and only old wounds from many years of military service. The first thing he did when he returned home was a boundary dispute. He was gossiped and suspected by the villagers, and he had to deal with the malicious suppression of colleagues like Sun Wang. Along the way, there were rumors, false accusations, pesticides used to destroy seedlings, sales blocked, and difficulties one after another. I have not deliberately downplayed the difficulties in rural reality: farmers are afraid of losing money and dare not transfer their land, villagers are easily incited by rumors, local businesses crowd out collective industries for personal gain, shortage of funds, lack of agricultural skills, and the pressure of flood control during flood season... These are all difficulties encountered in real villages. I do not want to write about a suspended perfect countryside. Only by facing trivial problems in the local area can the image of veterans standing up can be established. In the veteran volunteer team in the book, Li Hu is enthusiastic and impulsive, while Zhao Qiang has many concerns. Each has its own shortcomings in character, and they are not all perfect and good people. Just like the returning veterans in reality, some are full of enthusiasm, while others are worried about their livelihood, afraid of gossip, hesitant and aggrieved, but they always stick to the bottom line of being a soldier, helping the village with rescue operations regardless of pay, taking care of the elderly who live alone and left behind, and mediating neighborhood conflicts that have been unresolved for more than ten years. I deliberately added a lot of pyrotechnic details: carrying sandbags to guard the river embankment on rainy nights, visiting the elderly to fetch water and change dressings, going up the mountain to measure the mountainous areas late at night, and providing free medical insurance at convenience points. There is no exaggerated plot of getting rich. All income increases are achieved by farming the land down to earth, connecting with regular merchants, revitalizing idle barren hills, and cultivating at a slow pace, winning the trust of the villagers little by little. Many book friends complained that the villain Sun Wang repeatedly stumbled, which made them feel aggrieved. Let me explain to you that the development of rural industries cannot avoid the competition of local practitioners. There are real businessmen who are short-sighted, afraid of their interests being divided, and use underhanded tactics to suppress them. But I didn't write the villain as heinous, and in the end I didn't beat him to death and send him to prison. Instead, I asked him to compensate for his losses and go to work to make up for his mistakes, leaving room for repentance. The countryside emphasizes the coexistence of neighbors, and blindly killing everyone is not in line with local customs. It also fits the character of the protagonist Wang Sanshou as a soldier who is measured and generous. The combination of strength and softness is the core charm of the character. The story has reached this point, and the plot of the first volume of Returning Home and Setting Up Roots has basically been completed. The boundary conflicts, the first flood control, the implementation of mountain industries, the construction of convenience service points, and all the early conflicts have come to an end. The next volume of the second volume of "Rural Development" will expand more new content: the overall reinforcement of river embankments, the normal operation of village-level convenience services, the mutual aid linkage of veterans across villages and towns, the long-term and short-term integration of walnut + Chinese herbal medicine industry development, and the addition of rural research and local cultural and creative branches. At the same time, more stories of help for left-behind elderly people and left-behind children will be added to explore the warm plot of mutual help among retired soldiers and the docking of urban and rural resources. Some readers asked about the rhythm of the plot. This book follows the route of realistic rural novels. The point of excitement is not to rely on cheating, but to "change people's hearts through actions": from the suspicion of the whole village to everyone's belief, the deserted mountains turning into rich fields, the neighbors who have been grudges for many years shaking hands and reconciling, and the originally scattered villagers uniting as one. This kind of step-by-step positive change is the unique feeling of this book. The follow-up plot will still take into account conflict and warmth. There will be new industrial problems, large-scale rescue operations during the flood season, and heart-warming scenes of neighbors helping each other and veterans working side by side. There will be a sense of accomplishment after all the hardships. Finally, I would like to thank all the literary friends who have been reading and leaving messages to support this book. Many people left messages saying that they were moved by the clips of rescue operations and helping the elderly. Some also sympathized with the veterans' obsession with taking off their military uniforms and staying true to their original aspirations. In reality, thousands of retired soldiers are making silent contributions in grassroots villages and communities. They deserve to be seen and written about. If you like this realistic rural and positive theme of retired soldiers, you are welcome to like and encourage you to read it. In the comment area, you can talk about the plot that impressed you most and the side content you want to see. I will adjust the focus of the plot based on your ideas in subsequent creations. The flood on the river bank ahead is approaching, and the veteran team has just begun a new round of protection and pioneering. In the next chapter, we will continue to follow Wang Sanshou to guard this fertile land and mountains.

When I wrote the three chapters 197-199, an overwhelming mountain rain fell and then stopped. When the story reached this stage, I felt a lot of emotion in my heart. Taking the opportunity of the update, I would like to have a good chat with my friends who have been reading "The Return of the Army", about the characters, the plot, and my unwavering creative intention in writing this novel about realistic rural veterans. Many readers of Qimao left messages with me, saying that this book did not feel as exciting as cheating all the way, and that the conflicts always came one after another. As soon as the industry saw the light of day, rumors started again; just as conflicts subsided, natural disasters followed one after another. Even though we have received provincial cooperation orders and the research base is bustling with activity, we still have to face the scheming of people and the test of life and death from heavy rains and landslides. Many friends asked me why I couldn't write it more relaxedly, so that the protagonist and the villagers could reap a bumper harvest in peace and experience less hardships. In fact, when I wrote these three chapters, the core core is one sentence: Wind and rain are the best touchstone of people's hearts. In peacetime, it is difficult for us to distinguish between what is sincere and what is false. Everyone can say nice things, and with interests in front of them, everyone can make promises. But only when disaster strikes, heavy rain pours, and danger hangs overhead, what choices a person will make will be fully revealed. Zhou Qiang, a character who runs through the second half of the story, I never wrote him as a purely heinous bad guy. He is obsessed with business gains and losses, winning and losing. In order to snatch industrial interests, he will fabricate rumors and use people's livelihood and disaster prevention projects as a bargaining chip. But when the real heavy rain disaster came and people needed to stand up to take risks and risk their lives, he chose to close the door of his house and hide under the eaves. He is good at beguiling others with his rhetoric, but he is unwilling to bear even half of the weight of this land. On the other hand, Wang Sanshou and the Veterans Volunteer Team do not have huge wealth or a vast network of connections. They only have old wounds brought back from their relationships and a sense of responsibility as a soldier that is engraved in their bones. In the peaceful years, you can engage in industry, do research, and help people increase their income; when danger comes, you rush up the muddy hillside and use your flesh and blood to block the risk of landslides. In Chapter 197, a public letter of commitment serves as the spiritual anchor of the entire chapter. Faced with the suspicion of the whole village, he did not argue with words, but made an agreement in black and white, signed by everyone, filed in multiple parties, and spread out the promise in the sun. Retired soldiers value "a promise worth a thousand dollars" most. The military orders in the military camp are as heavy as a mountain. When they return to their hometown, the promises they make to the people are also worth a thousand dollars. I deliberately wrote that Wang Sanshou suffered a back injury. His body had obviously reached the limit of endurance, but he still insisted on standing in front of the crowd. A hero is not without pain, but a hero who suffers from pain and still chooses to hold on to the responsibilities on his shoulders. The roaring rain and landslide in Chapter 198 is the climax of the emotional tension of the whole book. On a pouring rainy night, the cracks in the mountain continued to expand, and the sandbag slope protection was crumbling. On one side, natural disasters brought life and death threats, and on the other side, there were people in the dark who continued to incite conflicts through the wind and rain. Double pressure from inside and outside comes at the same time. Many online articles write about this desperate situation, where a turn of events will be arranged, and noble people will suddenly appear to resolve the crisis. But I choose to be loyal to reality. No miracle will come, and no external force will solve the disaster instantly. The only people I can rely on are these ordinary people themselves. The veterans took the lead, and ordinary villagers followed, carrying sandbags and digging ditches, fighting for time with death inch by inch in the thundering rain. Here, Wang Sanshou's old wounds are repeatedly depicted aggravated, not to deliberately exaggerate the sadness. I have visited many veterans who have returned home, and most of them bear injuries from their service. When you return to the countryside to start a business or do charity rescue, old injuries will repeatedly torture your body. They are not invulnerable supermen. They will feel pain, fatigue, and their bodies have limits, but the beliefs in their hearts will not give in easily. The phrase "the sentry will not withdraw its post when there is a snowstorm" is not an empty slogan, but an instinct engraved in the bones and blood of countless veterans. Chapter 199 When the rain breaks, you can see your heart, which is the precipitation after the wind and rain. After the heavy rain fell, the mountains and rivers were devastated, but human lives and villages were saved. Farmers who had been deceived by rumors saw with their own eyes who was charging and who was hiding when the crisis came, and took the initiative to go back and re-sign the circulation agreement. Sweet words are no match for real protection in the wind and rain. Lies will collapse in the face of natural disasters, and people's hearts will complete reconciliation and return in the remaining days of the disaster. I have always insisted that rural revitalization is never a comedy of flowers and harvests. The countryside is not only a land of simplicity and kindness, but also selfishness, suspicion, and interest disputes. Ordinary people will be confused by rumors and moved by small profits in front of them. This is the truest human nature of ordinary people. Don't make all the villagers into perfect saints, and don't make the contradictory opponents pure evil. Human nature is complex. Wind and rain, suffering, and real gains and losses will slowly polish people's hearts. Many readers will feel sorry for Wang Sanshou after reading these three chapters. I feel sorry for him, who is suffering from injuries, trying his best, and constantly dealing with rumors, calculations, and natural disasters. But this is exactly the epitome of thousands of retired soldiers who have truly returned home. Take off the military uniform, the halo fades, and return to your hometown without the filter of preferential treatment. If you want to accomplish something, you have to deal with market competition, resolve misunderstandings among neighbors, and fight against unpredictable natural disasters. All they can rely on is responsibility, perseverance, and a group of neighbors and colleagues who are willing to walk side by side. Guarding the borders protects the motherland's thousands of miles of borders; taking off one's armor and returning home protects the land beneath one's feet and the ordinary people in this world of fireworks. The military uniform can be taken off, but the word "guard" will always be engraved in the bones and blood. This is the core spiritual core of the entire "Returning to the Homeland". Of course, just because the storm has passed does not mean the story is complete. After the construction of the retaining wall started, there were still construction problems; Kangyang Group's large-volume supply also had the pressure of quality control; when the research base reopened, there was still a balance between people's livelihood and industry to consider. Revitalization is a long-distance race that takes a long time to achieve success. Winning the tough battle of heavy rain and flash floods is just a checkpoint on the road, not the end. The real countryside will never be settled once and for all. Once old problems are solved, new challenges will be encountered. In writing this book, I did not want to weave a dream that is divorced from reality for readers. I hope that through words, everyone can see the real hometown and the real veterans. They will be injured, tired, and encounter rumors and plots, but the sincerity and responsibility in their hearts will not be easily smoothed away.

When I write the three chapters 194, 195, and 196, the story once again enters the conflict node where the wind and rain are intertwined. Many readers who followed the update of "The Return of the Army" left comments in the comment area saying that the protagonist and the villagers finally put together a large order for the health care group and put the research base into operation. They should have ushered in a period of stable harvest, but man-made calculations and heavy rains from the sky and geological dangers came one after another. It was always tense in the heart while reading it, and it was difficult to appreciate the relaxed feeling of a fast food article. With this update, I calmed down and had a good chat with my friends who had been reading along with me, about the creative ideas of these three chapters, and the core of realistic rural creation that the entire work has always adhered to. In the narrative logic of many assembly-line local online articles, getting a large provincial cooperation order and the research base being full of customers represent the end of the contradiction. After the external opponents failed to commit evil a few times, they should disappear completely. Everyone put aside their suspicions and rushed to prosperity with one heart. After that, it was a smooth journey and a highlight story. But when I visit many grassroots rural collective cooperatives, the reality I see is often not like this. Interest conflicts will not disappear out of thin air just because you achieve staged success. When a collective industry grows bigger and bigger, involving the profits of thousands of farmers, it will inevitably attract gamers with different mentality. Some people are willing to choose to coexist side by side, but there are also people who cannot let go of the unwillingness to lose in competition and will not choose to compete openly and honestly on product quality. Instead, they look for gaps in the rules and use people's livelihood projects as bargaining chips in an attempt to coerce collective interests and exchange for their own personal gains. Chapter 194, "Paper Proves Heart", is about such a game. I deliberately did not design any exciting scenes of armed conflict or fierce confrontation. To resolve rumors and incitement, we do not rely on quarrels and abuse, but rely on two things: official paper documents and audio recordings of threatening words. In a society of local people and people, a hundred empty arguments are not worth a piece of evidence written in black and white. When Wang Sanshou faced the villagers who were bewitched by rumors, he did not condescendingly accuse the villagers of being ignorant. Instead, he spread the evidence in front of everyone and gave the people the right to choose. At the same time, I also deliberately retain the doubts of ordinary people. Even if the official documents are in front of them, farmers will still be worried from the bottom of their hearts: The documents are true, but heavy rains wait for no one, and if the approval process is delayed, who will bear the losses caused by landslides? This concern is very real. Ordinary people do not understand the complicated departmental approval process. They can only see the dark clouds above their heads and the dangerous slopes below their feet. They are worried about the harvest of their hard work over the season. Therefore, the protagonist in the story did not just use documents to prevaricate everyone, but gave the reality: approval can wait, but human actions cannot wait. Before the construction of the retaining wall started, the volunteer team went to the back mountain overnight to strengthen the emergency slope protection, using manpower to fight against the imminent natural disaster risk. This is also the most valuable characteristic of retired soldiers. They do not wait for the system or approval. When danger comes, they step forward. Chapter 195, "Consolidating the Slope on a Rainy Night", moves the conflict from the verbal game in the office and village committee to the field in the windy and rainy mountains and fields. Conflicts are no longer just calculations between people, but have become head-on confrontations between people and natural disasters. In this chapter, I spent a lot of pen and ink writing about the environment. The pouring cold rain, the rumbling thunder, the slippery and loose mountains. The environment itself is the antagonist of the story. I described the detail of the protagonist's recurring pain from his old injuries many times. Wang Sanshou has never been an invulnerable hero. Twenty-four years of guarding the border in northern Xinjiang left him with injuries all over his body, and rescuing people aggravated the physical pain. But the soldier's instinct engraved in his bones made him refuse to retreat even if he was slightly injured. But I didn't make "Don't leave the sentry post for minor injuries" into a suspended heroic slogan. This comes at a price. The physical pain really tortured him. This tolerance is the perseverance of ordinary people, not the aura of Superman. The depiction of group portraits also continues in this chapter. Not only the veteran volunteer team, but also retired soldiers from surrounding villages and towns who came to support, and ordinary farmers who were previously suspicious, all carried their tools into the wind and rain. The hearts of rural people can never be completely united by just a few slogans. Doubts and suspicions will exist, but when a real disaster hangs over everyone's head, and when they see someone really rushing to protect their homeland, most ordinary people are willing to put aside their grudges and stand up to tide over the difficulties together. As for Zhou Qiang's transformation, I arranged it in Chapter 196 "Staying Home". I always reject the simple and crude treatment of "the villain must be imprisoned and defeated completely". Zhou Qiang is not a naturally heinous bad guy. He is more obsessed with winning and losing in the business world and is blinded by interests. When he stood in the darkness and saw with his own eyes people all over the mountains and plains, regardless of gains and losses, risking their lives in the rain and suffering, just to protect the medicine fields and homes of the whole village, his inner obsession was shattered by reality. His repentance does not mean changing the story with a verbal apology, but rather throwing away calculations, picking up sandbags, and making amends for his mistakes with the work of his hands. Of course, repentance does not mean that all the past has been wiped out. The authorities have retained complete evidence, giving him a chance to stop at the brink. If he commits another crime in the future, he will still have to bear the corresponding consequences. This kind of character treatment is more in line with the real rural human society. Human nature is complex. There is room for turning between good and evil, but the bottom line can never be broken. The titles of the three chapters of the story, Paper proves the heart, Rainy night solidifies the slope, and the local soil is kept, and it progresses layer by layer. First, he used evidence to resolve people's suspicions, then he used flesh and blood to fight against wind, rain and natural disasters, and finally he settled on the words "keep the country home". When guarding the border, you are guarding every inch of land; when you take off your armor and return home, you are guarding every inch of mountain land and the livelihood of thousands of families. This is also the spiritual core throughout the book. Many readers told me that they often felt depressed while reading this book, with one conflict after another and it was difficult to completely relax. In actual rural revitalization, there is no once-and-for-all victory. After winning a storm, there will be another test. Deal with man-made calculations, as well as natural disasters and geological risks. The larger the scale of the industry, the heavier the responsibility on the shoulders. The so-called revitalization is not an answer sheet filled with good harvests, but a long-distance race that takes a long time to achieve success. At this point in the story, it still takes time to complete the process of retaining wall approval, the tea bags have just been reworked and re-inspected, and the responsibility of hosting the study still falls on everyone's shoulders. In the future, there will be real problems such as market fluctuations, talent inheritance, and cross-village benefit distribution. Suffering will not disappear completely, but these people who returned to their hometown from the military camp have learned to face all wind and rain.

When I write Chapters 191 to 193, the showers have begun to subside, the storm has settled, the retaining wall approval has settled, Zhou Qiang takes the initiative to come to the house to admit his mistakes, and a large plot of natural disasters and man-made disasters has come to a staged end. After calming down, I would like to have a good chat with my friends who have been reading "The Return of the Army" to the thinking behind this story, the transformation of the characters, and the original intention of creating this novel about realistic rural veterans that has not changed from beginning to end. Many readers will feel emotional when they see this. In the middle and late stages of the story, there are almost no hearty "joy points". Just after the highlight of the industrial exhibition and sales, and receiving a large cooperation order from the province's health and care group, in the blink of an eye, it was faced with hidden dangers in the reception of study tours, faulty packaging technology, threats to the opponent's livelihood projects, and natural disasters such as heavy rains and landslides. The game of man-made interests, the ruthless test of nature, troubles one after another, conflicts one after another, make people feel heavy when reading. Many friends have left messages in the comment area, hoping that the plot can be lighter and less tribulation, so that the protagonist and the villagers can enjoy the fruits of their struggle. I understand everyone's desire for a successful and smooth reading, but I still insist on taking a realistic narrative route. The real-world rural collective revitalization business has never been a fairy tale of "opening up sales = everything will be fine". After the scale of the industry grows and the reputation is established, the real test begins. Visible orders and research customer flow are a glossy coat. Under the coat, there are countless risks hidden: accidental omissions in the production process, food safety red lines, the threat of geological disasters, extreme actions of colleagues driven by profit, and the swaying hearts of ordinary farmers when faced with gains and losses. The way many online articles deal with it is to make the villains look heinous and end up with a satisfying ending, where the bad guys are severely punished and everything goes smoothly for the good guys. But Zhou Qiang in my novel is not simply portrayed as a pure villain. He was born as a local businessman and made a living by making medicinal seedlings all his life. Facing the emerging veteran joint industry, his living space was squeezed, and he felt anxious and jealous, so he gradually embarked on the wrong path of opportunism. From the initial spreading of rumors secretly, to exchanging samples for inspection at the provincial expo, to using the retaining wall disaster prevention project as a bargaining chip, every mistake stemmed from obsession with profit, rather than innate evil nature. Chapter 191 Yu Xie Shan Ning arranged for him to hide in the dark and witness the horror of landslides and flash floods with his own eyes. This was the most important opportunity for character change. When he saw with his own eyes that if the retaining wall construction was delayed, a heavy rain might destroy the livelihoods of thousands of households in the entire village, he finally realized that livelihood disaster prevention projects should not be used as bargaining chips in commercial games. That's why Chapter 192 came to visit with a guilty conscience, took the initiative to withdraw the report, apologized, donated seedling construction machinery for free, and used practical actions to make up for his mistakes. I deliberately did not write about a spectacular punishment trial. In the real rural society, people look up but not look down, and the resolution of conflicts does not only end with bringing them to justice. Knowing your mistakes, admitting them, correcting them, and being willing to let go of your obsessions and choose healthy competition are also the unique tolerance of the rural world. I write about characters and refuse to have flat faces. People are complex. They will be coerced by desires and make mistakes. They will also be shocked by real scenes and have the opportunity to wake up. The protagonist Wang Sanshou, as of this chapter, has advanced to the mid-to-late stage of his return home. We look back at his changes along the way: when he first returned to Guhuai Village, he faced conflicts and relied more on his military courage, sincere communication, and standing up for rescue. Up to now, he has to endure the torture of old physical injuries and learn to balance the multiple relationships between commercial orders, collective farmers' income, public welfare and people's livelihood, and geological disaster prevention. He still maintains the principles and bottom line of a soldier, but no longer relies solely on hot-blooded charges. He has learned to rely on complete systems and complete evidence, rely on functional departments to act in accordance with regulations, and rely on the collective strength of the entire village to resolve crises. But he is still not an omnipotent superman. The old injuries left by the snowstorm at the border repeatedly tortured his body. After the heavy rain rescue operation, the pain worsened. He would be tired, in pain, and faced with dilemmas. I'm not willing to make him the perfect invulnerable hero. The greatness of retired soldiers is not that they are omnipotent, but that they still hold on to their inner bottom line and shoulder the responsibilities even though they are injured and the road ahead is full of obstacles. Guard the borders without giving up an inch of territory; defend the homeland without moving the bottom line. Chapter 193: Rebirth in fertile soil is the ending point of this paragraph. The natural disaster did not completely destroy the medicine field, the man-made conflicts were reconciled, the main body of the retaining wall was completed, the reworked test-market tea bags were about to be sent to the market, and the research base was repaired. But I still didn't write "everything is perfect". At the end of the story, the young people who have returned home continue to return, and there are still numerous realistic propositions ahead: subsequent large-scale harvesting of medicinal materials, quality control of long-term supply by the health care group, long-term incentives for young talents, industrial collaboration in surrounding villages and towns, and disaster prevention plans for the next rainy season. Rural revitalization does not have the end point of "complete victory after one battle". After resolving old conflicts, new problems will arise. Revitalization is a long-distance race, not a one-shot victory. This is also the reason why I wrote this novel and repeatedly wanted to convey it to everyone. Many readers asked me, what exactly do I want to write about this novel? On the surface, it talks about planting medicinal materials, studying culture and tourism, and retired soldiers starting businesses, but at the core, it writes about two things: one is "persistence", taking off the military uniform, the soldiers' original intention to protect their country remains unchanged, and the position changes from the border crossing thousands of miles away to the fields and countryside at their feet; the other is "people's hearts", in the rural world, there are selfish calculations, but also mutual help. In the face of wind and rain disasters, people's hearts can be separated, but they can also be tempered by wind and rain to unite. I have read many real interviews with veterans who have returned home. Many veterans returned to the countryside full of enthusiasm, but they encountered rumors, exclusion, market suppression, and natural disasters one after another. Some people were confused and retreated midway, while others gritted their teeth and persisted, uniting their neighbors bit by bit and slowly changing the face of their homeland with hard work. Wang Sanshou, Li Hu, Beijiang Lao Chen, and Liu Laogen, this group of characters combine the shadows of countless ordinary returning veterans and local people in reality. During the writing process, I tried my best to refuse floating golden fingers. There was no capital from the sky, and no high-level nobles came to the rescue out of thin air. All turning points come from collective unity, complete and compliant systems, and down-to-earth hard work.

After writing chapters 188, 189, and 190, many readers who followed the update left messages in the book review area. The retaining wall has finally received emergency approval and is about to start construction. The health care order is just around the corner. It should have ushered in a period of pride and elation, but the villain Zhou Qiang still keeps changing his tactics. From disrupting approvals, spreading panic through natural disasters, to inducing farmers to privately sell raw materials at high prices, and secretly blocking logistics lines, the waves of secret tricks are happening one after another, which makes people feel depressed and hopes to see the happy ending where the villain is arrested as soon as possible and the whole village is peaceful. With the update of these three chapters, I want to calm down and talk about the design ideas of this plot with my friends who have accompanied "The Return of the Army" all the way, about the original intention of writing this rural reality-themed novel about retired soldiers, and the original intention of the creation that I have always adhered to, and about the survival picture of real rural collective entrepreneurship after the Internet filter has faded. Many locals and veterans write online and are accustomed to setting up a linear conflict logic: a big conflict breaks out, the protagonist strikes out to completely resolve it, the villain is defeated and disappears, and then everything is peaceful, the industry is advancing at a rapid pace, everyone is united, and there are no more internal and external worries. However, I have visited and investigated many rural cooperatives and retired military personnel returning home to start their own businesses. Realistic business games and disputes over local interests have never been about "one battle to determine the outcome." The opponent will not just admit defeat after a defeat. When the open road fails, they will constantly switch battlefields, switching from open confrontation to secret attacks. If your industrial projects cannot be defeated, you will pry up your raw material foundation; if you cannot prevent project approval, you will block transportation and logistics; if you cannot take advantage of direct competition, you will take advantage of ordinary farmers' profit-seeking and risk-avoiding psychology to create rifts within the collective. This is also the realistic prototype for my design of Zhou Qiang's successive changes in tactics. In reality, opponents are rarely heinous gangsters, but more local businessmen who are obsessed with survival and profit. They will not give up the game easily until they are completely desperate. Chapter 188, "Determined Control of Dangerous Slopes," focuses on the idea that disaster prevention is greater than industrial returns. Obtaining geological disaster emergency approval does not mean that all contradictions are cleared directly. Even if the project is approved, it still has to face real livelihood problems such as temporary land acquisition and compensation for damage to young crops. When working collectively, we cannot just focus on the grand industrial blueprint and ignore the real losses of individual farmers. Therefore, in the plot, there is no order to convince all the villagers. Instead, Wang Sanshou goes door-to-door with the calculation ledger to communicate, and uses subsidies and employment positions to make up for short-term losses. Reason and system go hand in hand. This is the normal state of grassroots work. This chapter also deliberately retains the foreshadowing that Zhou Qiang is unwilling to fail. The crisis will not automatically resolve with a piece of approval, and the external undercurrent is still surging. At the same time, the details of Wang Sanshou's recurring waist injuries are repeatedly depicted, reminding readers once again that the protagonist is not an invulnerable hero. Twenty-four years of guarding the border in northern Xinjiang left him with old injuries. All those who stepped forward were ordinary people who relied on the tenacity of soldiers to bear it. Chapter 189 "Conspiracy to Cut Off the Source", the conflict turns from external to internal. This is also the most dangerous test after the collective industry develops to a certain scale. External enemies can be seen and defended, but if the opponent uses short-term cash benefits to leverage ordinary farmers, cracks will quietly grow from within the collective. I deliberately did not portray farmers who are greedy for cash as selfish and ugly bad people. For farmers who have relied on the land for generations, tangible cash is far more tangible than a forward dividend agreement. Facing unknown mountain risks, people panic and want to be safe. This is a very real survival instinct of ordinary people. Therefore, the way to deal with the story is not to arrest people, fine them, or criticize them fiercely, but to set up accounts to calculate the gains and losses throughout the year, use the joint venture agreement as a basis, be moderately tolerant of the behavior that has occurred, and focus on restricting future rules. In the rural society of human relations, in addition to legal principles, we must also take into account human relations. Blindly suppressing them with force will only intensify conflicts between neighbors, but is not conducive to the long-term survival of the industry. This is also the reason why I have always rejected flat good and evil characters. The rural world is rarely black and white, but more about ordinary people's swings and trade-offs in the face of livelihood. Chapter 190 "Road Blockage for Transporting Materials", blocking logistics is a very common dirty trick in real business competition. Instead of competing on product quality and planting technology, your opponents use their local connections and resources accumulated over many years of operations to cut off your transportation lifeline. If we follow Shuangwen's routine, we can arrange for heavenly capital and high-level dignitaries to resolve the crisis with one click, but I did not choose the suspended bridge. The key to breaking the situation lies in the core hidden thread that runs through the entire book: veterans' cross-regional mutual assistance. Those who stood up to support the situation in critical moments were not outsiders, but veterans from all walks of life across the province. Even after taking off the military uniform, the friendship of comrades-in-arms has not disappeared. They travel to different places on weekdays and help each other in times of crisis. I have always wanted to write about this unique bond that belongs to retired soldiers: they guard the country side by side in the military camp, and they return to civilian life to make a living, but whenever their colleagues encounter difficulties, they are willing to lend a helping hand regardless of gain or loss. This is also the most important part of the spiritual core of the entire "The Return of the Army". After the three chapters are connected in series, a complete conflict logic can be clearly seen: the approval of the disruptive project failed → the use of natural disasters to create panic in public opinion failed → the destruction of external projects did not work, and instead corroded the raw material supply chain → the destruction of raw materials failed, and then blocked logistics and transportation. The opponent continues to shrink his gaming chips and is forced into a desperate situation, which also indicates that he will make more desperate moves in the future. But even though our opponents have endless tricks, our counterattacks always adhere to the bottom line: we do not engage in private revenge, do not rely on special pressure, and rely on official systems, black-and-white agreements, and the power of mutual assistance to resolve one difficulty after another. Many readers will wonder why they can't write less about hardships and more about heart-warming plots. In fact, rural revitalization itself is a long-distance race with no end. If we win one crisis, there will be another test. The larger the scale of the industry, the more interested parties it involves, and the more complex the human nature test it needs to face. Solving geological disasters does not mean that we can sit back and relax, and getting large orders does not mean that everything will be fine. Clearing up logistics channels is only one part of the solution. True revitalization is never about declaring success after getting an order and building a project. It is about constantly polishing the system and rallying people's hearts in the midst of storms one after another, so that the industry can withstand natural disasters and man-made disasters. When I wrote this novel, I always paid tribute to the thousands of retired soldiers who have removed their armor and returned home.

After writing the three chapters of 185, 186, and 187, the story reached a high-pressure plot with heavy rains, landslides, and rumors. Many readers who have been reading "The Return of the Army" lamented to me in the comment area why the industry has finally started to pick up, research and orders have been completed, but it is still unable to escape the repeated tests of natural disasters and man-made disasters, and there is no happy scene of easy victory. During the break between updating the three chapters, I want to calm down and talk with the friends who have accompanied this book along the way, about the conception of this plot, the creative core that I have always adhered to when writing this realistic rural novel about retired soldiers, and what the real rural revitalization looks like after removing the filter of online articles. Many local-themed online articles are accustomed to writing about a smooth journey after their career takes off. Opening up sales channels, getting large orders, and having a strong customer flow at the research base means everything is going well. The external villain was defeated, everyone inside was united, natural disasters were detoured, and all conflicts disappeared. All that was left was a steady stream of orders. The villagers were beaming with joy and received dividends. The protagonist received flowers and applause, and he made great progress all the way. But I have come across many real cases offline of veterans who have returned home to start their own businesses, and the reality is exactly the opposite. In the initial stage of the career, everyone had nothing and had the same goal. Everyone was united and gritted their teeth to open up wasteland and expand production. Everyone was in awe and did not dare to slack off at all. After the industry is launched and visible benefits are in front of us, the real test has just begun. The test comes not only from visible opponents, but also from uncontrollable natural disasters, and from the suspicion, panic and selfishness deep in people's hearts. Chapter 185, "Paper Certificates to Peace of Mind," is about using official paper certificates to reassure people after rumors spread. I deliberately did not write a scene where the protagonist convinces everyone with his eloquence in a few words. In rural society, spoken words are light and fluffy. When encountering a crisis, what the people want to see is black and white words on paper, an official seal, and tangible evidence. Wang Sanshou and his party rushed to the county town overnight to obtain official documents from functional departments, not to use official coercion to convince the villagers, but to use objective materials to crush the rumors. At the same time, this chapter repeatedly depicts the details of the protagonist's old injuries aggravating. He is not an invulnerable superman. Twenty-four years of guarding the border have left him with injuries. He has to rescue people and run around for days. The pain will really torture his body. The strength of veterans has never been that they will not be injured, but that they still choose to stand on the front line of protecting their neighbors despite being hurt. Chapter 186: "Wind and Rain Approaching the Slope", a heavy rain suddenly struck, and the simple slope protection was torn apart by a landslide. This chapter focuses on the irresistibility of natural disasters. We can make plans and strengthen protection, but humans cannot fully control nature. No matter how thorough the preparations are, dangers will still arise in the face of extreme rainstorms. Simple sandbag slope protection can only be used for emergencies and cannot be relied upon for a long time. This is also the simplest principle of actual geological disaster management. Many people will ask, why not repair the retaining wall earlier? Funding, project declaration, and approval processes all take time. In reality, when working at the grassroots level, there is no magic that can instantly complete a project with a single order. When a crisis comes, the volunteer team does not give up on duty, takes risks to monitor dangerous situations, and prioritizes the safety of people's lives first. This is the instinct engraved in the bones of retired soldiers. Even if the cost is wind, rain, or physical pain, the safety of the people will always come before interests. At the same time, this chapter lays the groundwork. Zhou Qiang is hiding in the dark and snooping. When he sees the danger, instead of reflecting on himself, he takes the opportunity to disrupt the situation. The complexity of human nature is vividly reflected here. There is no pure evil, but more ordinary people who are coerced by the obsession of profit. Chapter 187, "People's Heart Questions", is a concentrated expression of natural disasters superimposed on man-made disasters. A small-scale landslide occurred in the mountain, and real risks loomed before us. This was supposed to be a time for the whole village to work together to fight the disaster, but some people used natural disasters to spread panic rumors and incite farmers to take back their transferred land in an attempt to destroy the hard-won collective industry. Facing the panicked villagers, the protagonist team did not hide the disaster, did not whitewash the situation, did not deceive the people, truthfully informed the risks, and at the same time came up with implemented response plans and understanding replies from the partners. Facing problems instead of covering them up is the consistent principle of the veteran team. The most difficult thing in the face of a crisis is never to fight against the landslide mud, but to appease the people who are stirred by panic. The danger of the physical body is visible and tangible, and the turmoil of the human heart is invisible, but it is enough to ruin an entire year's hard work. After reading through three chapters, I still adhere to the unified character creation logic of the whole book and refuse to flatten the facial features. For the character Zhou Qiang, I never portrayed him as a heinous bad guy. The root cause of his step-by-step approach is survival anxiety. He is afraid that his business will be squeezed by the veteran joint venture industry, and he is trapped by the obsession with winning and losing again and again. But even if you are obsessed with it, using natural disasters to spread panic and stir up the hearts of your neighbors is still an undesirable and wrong behavior. Human nature is complex, with selfishness, jealousy, and speculative thoughts in the face of crisis, but mistakes will have corresponding consequences. And the panic of ordinary villagers is not due to ignorance and short-sightedness. The land is the root of farmers. When I heard about landslides, worrying about one's own medicinal materials and one's own profits is the simplest survival instinct. There is no need to criticize ordinary people. What we need to do is to come up with the truth and a comprehensive plan to allay everyone's concerns. The character arc of the protagonist Wang Sanshou also continues to develop in these chapters. When he first returned home, he relied more on passion and sincere communication to deal with conflicts; now, facing the multiple pressures of natural disasters, rumors, and opponents disrupting the situation, he knows how to rely on systems, official documents, and complete plans to resolve crises. But what remains unchanged is the background of the military: dangers are at the forefront, the safety of the people comes before profits, they do not cover up crises, and they are not afraid of difficulties. Even if their physical injuries continue to worsen, they will not abandon their responsibility to protect the homeland. I deliberately and repeatedly described the onset of a back injury, just to remind readers that he is just an ordinary person with old injuries, not an omnipotent hero. All his steps forward depend on a responsibility engraved in his bones and blood. Many readers look forward to seeing a happy ending, a complete defeat of the opponent, and everything going smoothly. But in reality, there will never be a day when all contradictions are completely eliminated in rural revitalization. To defeat visible opponents, there will be natural disasters; to survive natural disasters, there will be the test of people's hearts; to solve the current crisis, there will be new problems in the future.

After writing the three chapters 182, 183, and 184, the hidden dangers of landslides, collective slope protection rush for work, and pre-rain protection came to an end. Many readers who followed "The Return of the Army" left messages in the book review area, saying that reading these chapters was full of sweat and weight. There was no easy way to resolve the crisis like Shuangwen. Everywhere was the dilemma encountered by entrepreneurship in real rural areas. It was heart-wrenching to read, but also particularly moving. With this update, I want to calm down and talk with my friends who have been following the update all the way to talk about the creative concept of this plot, the character arc, and the original creative intention that runs through the entire work. Many rural and veteran-themed online articles are used to writing about geological disasters and engineering construction plots, where the protagonist has a large amount of money, and all the materials and personnel are put in place with one piece of paper, and the problem disappears in the blink of an eye. But in reality, rural governance and collective industries face geological hazards, which are far from easy and unrestrained. The biggest difficulty is often not "do you know how to cultivate?" But "where do the money come from and where do the people come from?" It is clear that there is a landslide risk hanging on the hillside, and if it is not dealt with, the consequences will be damage to the medicinal fields and farmers' harvests will be reduced. However, the collective funds at hand are limited, and the working capital for purchasing medicinal materials cannot be used at will. Thousands of farmers are waiting to sell medicinal materials to get their hard-earned money, and they cannot put the livelihood of the people in danger just to repair the slopes. This is the core practical contradiction in Chapter 182 "Dangerous Slope Planning", and it is also a real dilemma that many rural grassroots will encounter. Instead of arranging a golden finger for the protagonist to receive funds from the sky and help the nobles come to the rescue, I designed a multiple parallel solution of "obtaining special subsidies + volunteering to work + applying for material assistance from the Veterans Alliance + friendly negotiation on order scheduling". Don't tear down the east wall to make up for the west wall, and don't use farmers' purchase capital. We must rely on the system and collective strength to break the situation. Here I deliberately write about the diverse mentality of ordinary people: some people are fully aware of the dangers of landslides and fully support them, some are worried about the risks of the capital chain, some are too old to do heavy work and do what they can to assist in sorting. Volunteers do not engage in moral kidnapping, are willing to contribute to charity points, and are not harsh when they have no time to contribute. Rural collective undertakings cannot require one-size-fits-all standards for everyone. Respecting the actual situation of each farmer is the warmth that rural work should have. In Chapter 183, "All Forces Conquer the Slope", what I want to write about is the power of rural images. The veteran volunteer team is the backbone, but protecting the countryside can never be accomplished by a group of retired soldiers alone. Comrades who came to station in northern Xinjiang, local farmers in Guhuai, elderly people, and villagers in their prime, all did their best. Those who could dig the soil, those who could sort it, and those who could transport it. Blisters on his hands, recurrence of old injuries, and yellow mud all over his body. These tiny details of labor are not superfluous descriptions. In real villages, many emergency projects have limited financial funds, and they rely on villagers to put in work and labor to lay a solid foundation bit by bit. In the plot, the twists and turns of setting up a protective net for logistics and encountering falling rocks blocking the road halfway are also based on real road conditions in mountainous areas. When building roads and transporting goods in the mountains, weather, landslides, and rockfalls are all uncontrollable variables. The crisis will not break out just after you have all the supplies in place according to the rhythm of the script. Variables will come to your door at any time. Therefore, in the story, everyone did not wait and relied, but used local materials to make flexible temporary protection with rattan and sandbags. They did not sit still and wait for death. This is also the logic of the soldiers engraved in their bones. If the conditions are not complete, they must create conditions and still maintain the defense line. Chapter 184 "Securing Defense Before the Rain" is the emotional point of the entire plot. A heavy rain is coming, and the time is ticking to the minute. The dusk, night, flashlight light, and rainy night rush to work, the atmosphere is full. Everyone tried their best to complete the reinforcement of the retaining wall and protective net before the raindrops fell. The heavy rain poured down, but the mountain was held firmly. When the crisis was resolved, there was no impassioned celebration banquet, only the feeling of relief as everyone stood under the rain. I deliberately downplayed the high-profile feeling of "big victory". The crisis was over, but this does not mean that we will always have peace of mind in the future. Mountain protection must be regularly inspected, and drainage ditches must be dredged every year. Disaster prevention can never be done once and for all. Looking back at the growth of the protagonist Wang Sanshou, at the beginning of the story, he had just retired from the army and returned to Guhuai Village. When faced with conflicts, he relied more on courage and sincere communication to resolve them; now, he is dealing with the major event of a landslide, knowing how to weigh the pros and cons of finance, funds, orders, and farmers' livelihoods, how to set up multiple plans, and how to rely on the system and collective strength instead of just relying on himself. But what remains unchanged is the perseverance engraved in the bones. When the border post encountered dangerous wind and snow, the sentry could not retreat; when he returned to his hometown, natural disasters hung above his head, and he also refused to take a step back at the local defense line. The recurring sting of old wounds on the body is a detail throughout the book, reminding everyone that this responsibility means moving forward with a heavy burden at the expense of the body. Throughout the entire book until now, I have been rejecting flat good and evil characters. In this chapter, there is no vicious villain. All conflicts come from constraints of realistic conditions and choices made under limited resources. The folks have concerns and worries, not out of selfishness and short-sightedness, but every family must guard their own lives. The role of veterans is not to be an omnipotent superman, but to see the risks clearly, come up with a multi-faceted plan, bring everyone together, and work together to overcome difficulties. Many readers asked me why the story was about one crisis after another. I had just won a big order to supply the province, but then I was faced with the test of a landslide, and I couldn't just write about having a good harvest and getting rich. Here I want to talk frankly about my creative concepts. Real rural revitalization is not a game of breaking through levels, where winning a big boss will lead to a happy ending. As the industry expands, natural disasters, geological hazards, financial constraints, and supply chain variables will always follow. Getting a large order is just an opportunity, and behind the opportunity comes a higher responsibility. After receiving an order, you must ensure a stable supply of raw materials and maintain the foundation of production. The ground under your feet is unstable, and no matter how beautiful the paper contract is, it is just a castle in the air. Soldiers and horses guard the country, and armor is removed to protect the mountains and rivers. This is the core throughout the book. Back then, when we were wearing military uniforms, we were guarding national borders thousands of miles away, and we were not retreating even an inch of mountains and rivers. Now, when we take off our military uniforms, we are guarding hillsides and fields, and we are guarding the livelihood of ordinary people in thousands of households. The soldier's perseverance is never limited to the battlefield where artillery fire and smoke are everywhere. The countryside where people are surrounded by fireworks is also their position.

After writing the three chapters 179, 180, and 181: making waves during work breaks, determining rules and regulations, and clearing up accounts to reassure the public, another storm of rural construction has come to an end. Many readers who have followed the book all the way lamented in the comment area that the story has reached the stage of retaining wall construction, provincial supply orders, and regular operation of the research base. The industrial scale has been established, but there are still turmoils. Construction site disputes, product quality fluctuations, and anonymous rumors on the Internet have taken turns to appear. It is difficult to enjoy the refreshing feeling of a smooth journey. With the update of three chapters, calm down and have a good chat with friends who have accompanied you along the way about the creative concept and character logic of this chapter, as well as the core of realistic rural creation that the entire "Return to the Hometown" has always adhered to. Many local-themed online articles will simplify the narrative once it enters the stage of large-scale infrastructure construction: funds are in place, materials are coming in, villagers are united, and the project is completed smoothly. But in reality, in the construction of grassroots projects, everything will be fine once the budget drawings are obtained. Compensation for land, vegetable fields, and young crops, every corner involves the vital interests of farmers. Chapter 179 A break in work caused a stir. I designed a construction sidewalk that passed by the vegetable patch. I verbally agreed to go back on my word before starting work. This was not a matter of creating conflicts out of thin air. It was based on a large number of real cases of rural infrastructure construction. Many early-stage communications in rural areas are accustomed to oral humanistic agreements and do not fall into written agreements. People's hearts will change, and when the benefits are close to being realized, it is easy to have relapses. Farmers' demands cannot simply be labeled as "high price demands." Crops are farmers' real livelihood. Seeing vegetable fields being crushed by machines, they feel worried, which is a very real mentality of ordinary people. Two lines of work are running in parallel in the same chapter. The conflicts at the construction site have not yet subsided. Another production crisis broke out in the deep-processing workshop that the maturity of sea buckthorn raw materials was uneven and the flavor of the finished products was unstable. I deliberately put the outbreak of external conflicts in infrastructure and internal quality control crises in the industry in the same chapter. After rural collective industries expand, risks are intertwined with internal and external risks. Externally, we need to deal with the human interest game of land and farmers; internally, we need to fight against the production uncertainty caused by raw materials and technology. The external turmoil is visible, and the hidden dangers of internal quality control are hidden in the warehouse workshop. A slight laxity will destroy the brand reputation that has been worked hard to build. Two problems are pressing on the protagonist at the same time, which is to restore the real living situation of a doer. Trouble will not wait for you to deal with one before the next. Often several things come together. Chapter 180: Determining rules and regulations, focusing on the three words "establishing rules". Faced with the dispute over farmers' vegetable plots, the protagonist has no two extreme choices. He neither forcefully convinces farmers nor agrees to raise prices and destroy the overall budget without a bottom line. Instead, he uses official guidance documents as a yardstick and within the framework of rules, he proposes a humanistic compromise plan for harvesting vegetables. The compensation for benefits falls on the agreement written in black and white. To deal with the problem of raw materials in the workshop, it is not to make a temporary emergency to get over it, but to establish a fixed system for grading raw materials into the factory, and to upgrade the solution from "processing this batch of goods" to "plugging all similar loopholes in the future." Looking back at the entire novel, we can clearly see the growth trajectory of the protagonist Wang Sanshou. When I first returned home, handling conflicts relied more on the soldiers' responsibility, sincere communication, and emotional influence. As the scale of the industry grows larger and larger, and more and more people are involved, human relationships and morality alone are no longer enough to maintain collective operations. Favor can be used as a lubricant, but it cannot be used as the only reliance. Everything must have a yardstick and a system, agreement, and ledger written in black and white as the foundation. The responsibility of veterans is not only to rush forward to rescue in times of crisis, but also includes the management ability to set rules, clarify boundaries, and draw standards. This is also an important manifestation of the transformation of retired military personnel from "combatants" to "organizers of rural construction". Chapter 181: Opening up accounts and spreading rumors anonymously on the Internet. This is also a practical dilemma that cannot be avoided in current rural collective projects. After the popularization of the Internet, the cost of spreading rumors has become extremely low. An anonymous post and a few paragraphs of random speculation can quickly ferment in the local community and shake the trust of thousands of villagers. The most difficult thing about dealing with anonymous rumors is to catch the poster. It is difficult to quarrel with an invisible opponent. Therefore, in the story, the protagonist did not spend a lot of energy to track down who posted the post, and did not get into a verbal dispute. Instead, he chose the simplest way to deal with it: making the full set of purchase price comparisons, receipts, and corporate transfer vouchers public and exposed to the sun. I want to express a practical truth here: the foundation of collective industry and credibility is not verbal justification, but complete and accessible evidence and transparent processes. Suspicion arises from information not being closed. The best way to eliminate suspicion is to spread the accounts and processes for everyone to see. At the same time, Zhou Qiang's character status is also worth mentioning. After experiencing repeated setbacks, he is no longer the main behind-the-scenes troublemaker. Instead, he can stand up and rely on his experience in the building materials business to help the villagers identify whether the building materials quotation is reasonable. The characters are not forced to be completely whitewashed, but in the process of seeing the real thing together again and again, the change of mentality is completed, and the character arc is gradual and not abrupt. Many readers have asked me why most of the conflicts in the later stages of the story come from internal sources, such as construction site disputes, quality control oversights, and Internet rumors, while the role of the external villain decreases. Because after the industry has passed the initial stage of opening up wasteland and expanding production and resisting the suppression of external peers, the real test of whether the collective can go far is internal governance. External enemies can be fought, but land compensation, raw material quality control, material procurement, and fund use are all day-to-day internal governance problems. If the system cannot keep up, even if all external opponents are defeated, the industry will slowly collapse from within. This is also a true portrayal of the rise and fall of many rural cooperatives. At the same time, the hidden thread of the protagonist's waist injury continues to intersperse. The highlights of his achievements are rarely described, and more are described about his recurring injuries and silently enduring them. He is not an omnipotent hero, but an ordinary person with old wounds from the border, dealing with minor conflicts in his hometown. The greatness of the military includes not only the vigorous life and death rescue operations, but also the trivial persistence of patiently clarifying accounts, mediating disputes, and establishing rules day after day. The end of this chapter throws out the clue that the city's veterans' rural revitalization on-site observation meeting will be held next month, which means that the veterans' joint industry in Guhuai area must be inspected at the city level. This is both a great recognition and a test to a higher standard.

After writing the three chapters 176, 177, and 178, the rain stopped, the mountains were calm, the truth was presented, and the foundation was laid together. The three stories were settled, and my mood also fluctuated with the characters in the book. Many readers who have been reading "The Return of the Army" have left messages in the comment area with emotion. In the middle and later stages of the story, major disasters have struck one after another, and the man-made game has never stopped. Even if it survives the torrential rain and escapes the devastating landslide, everything still cannot be ushered in. It is a heavy read, but it is extremely close to reality. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the three-chapter update, I would like to calm down and have a good chat with my friends who have accompanied this book along the way, about the conception of the plot, the core of the characters, and the original creative intention that I have adhered to from beginning to end in writing this novel about the reality of rural veterans. Many local Internet articles are accustomed to directly equate "the rain has passed and the sky is sunny" with "everything goes well". After a heavy rainstorm has passed and the disaster crisis has been lifted, it immediately switches to a satisfying plot of harvest, signing of contracts, and everyone is happy. But in reality, the work at the grassroots level and the end of the natural disaster are just the beginning of new work. After heavy rains have washed away, hidden dangers in the mountains will not disappear automatically when the rain stops. Surface collapse, internal fissures, and geological risks still hang overhead. After the disaster, there is a long process of re-examination, project establishment, securing funds, coordinating manpower, and unifying people's hearts. Disasters are visible, but post-disaster management is mostly invisible and trivial suffering. Therefore, in Chapter 176, When the Rain Stops and Shan Ning is peaceful, I did not write about how everyone was happy immediately after the rain stopped. Instead, I wrote about the re-examination after the rain, the funding process, people's concerns, and the opponents still secretly stumbling upon each other, to fully unfold the chaos in the real world after the disaster. Wang Sanshou's waist injury continues to recur in this chapter. This detail is not unnecessary. After twenty-four years of guarding the northern Xinjiang, the wind and snow at the border left me with old wounds. This is not just a background setting. After returning to the countryside, the pain would recur again and again during rescue operations, mountain patrols, staying up late for meetings, and countless high-intensity work. He is not an invulnerable superhuman hero, but an ordinary person who, despite being injured, still grits his teeth and shoulders the responsibilities of his country. I deliberately did not write the highlight slogan of the protagonist being slightly injured and could not get out of the line of fire. Instead, I wrote more details about him quietly pressing his fist against his lower back and quietly enduring the pain, to express the fatigue and persistence of a veteran's flesh and blood. Chapter 177 is based on the facts and reports that the Kangyang Group's research team verified the disaster situation on the spot, and Zhou Qiang waited for an opportunity to disrupt the situation. Here I want to express a very realistic business logic: truly reliable large-scale partners are not afraid of seeing risks, but are afraid of concealing risks. In many online novels, the protagonist will try his best to cover up the hidden dangers of the disaster, whitewash the peace, and muddle through to win cooperation. But in reality, paper can never cover fire. If the hidden dangers of landslides are deliberately covered up, even if a contract is signed, once a disaster occurs in the future, it will be a massive breach of contract, and thousands of farmers will suffer huge losses. Therefore, I designed Wang Sanshou to choose to submit everything truthfully. The survey report, disaster photos, and rework records were all handed over truthfully, and the risks were not concealed. At the same time, the corresponding treatment plan was completely handed over. Dare to face problems head-on, which is the foundation for the long-term survival of collective industries. The opponent Zhou Qiang has not been completely "offline" at this stage, nor has he been simply arrested to realize his grudges. In reality, many competitors will not disappear completely just because of one failure. When it was obvious that the bidding was lost, they turned to the approval process, incited farmers, and used all kinds of roundabout means. But all his attempts to disrupt the situation are based on "seizing loopholes and seizing people's suspicions." When a full set of evidence in black and white and a complete governance plan are placed in front of everyone, the space for his methods to disrupt will become smaller and smaller. I have always refused to create flat villains. Zhou Qiang is not a pure villain, but a businessman trapped by the obsession of survival competition. Every time he takes action, he has his own interests, but he chooses to go wrong every time, and he uses up his opportunities little by little. In Chapter 178, we work together to build the foundation, and the retaining wall officially breaks ground, which is the starting point of this unit's plot. Solving the problem of funds is only half the task. The most difficult thing to solve is the people's hearts. Not everyone will unconditionally understand the long-term significance of infrastructure. Some farmers are overwhelmed with farm work and are objectively powerless; some farmers cannot see immediate benefits and are worried about it; and some are deceived by outsiders. To deal with this situation, I still adhere to the consistent logic throughout the book: give priority to no forced punishment, go to the door first to listen to concerns, lay out accounts, discuss the pros and cons, give a flexible plan, accept both labor investment and material donation, and do not insist on one size fits all. Punishment is only a last resort. The retaining wall has two levels of symbolic meaning in the story. The first layer is a physical barrier, blocking flash floods, mud and rocks, and protecting medicinal fields, villages, and people's livelihoods; the second layer is a barrier of people's hearts, blocking rumors, suspicions, and selfishness, so that the hearts and minds of the whole village can be united in one place. The physical wall is built with sand, gravel and cement; the human wall is slowly built with open and transparent accounts, candid communication, and the experience of sharing weal and woe time and time again. Looking back at the entire book, we can see a clear line of character growth. At the beginning of the story, Wang Sanshou, who has just returned home, encounters conflicts and relies more on his military courage and sincere communication to resolve neighborhood disputes. In the middle and later stages of the story, he still maintains that sincerity, but learns to fully use ledgers, survey reports, official procedures, and institutional rules to protect the entire group. He has not lost his original intention, but has become more mature and thoughtful. At the same time, the group portraits in the book are also continuing to grow. Liu Laogen and Sun Wang have private thoughts and opposition in the early days, and gradually participate in collective co-construction; ordinary farmers also gradually learn to distinguish rumors and understand the long-term pros and cons in one incident after another. Many readers will ask why, in the middle and later stages of the story, when supply channels across the province have been opened and a research base has been formed, there are still constant conflicts and it is difficult to completely relax. My understanding is: rural revitalization and industrial development do not have a "clearance ending". Getting a large order is not a customs clearance, nor is repairing a retaining wall a customs clearance. To solve natural disasters, we still need to deal with the game of people's hearts; to solve the external market, we need to balance internal distribution. When old conflicts are resolved, new tests will arise. Revitalization is a long-distance race, and there is no one-and-done victory. In writing this book, I pay tribute to the thousands of retired soldiers who have taken off their military uniforms and returned to their hometowns. They once guarded the border for thousands of miles without giving up an inch of territory; when they returned to their homeland, they no longer guarded the national border, but the fields under their feet and the livelihood of their neighbors.