Except for a few sentries in the first company and the people in the regiment headquarters, no one knew what had happened. The order to assemble was quickly passed to every department and unit, including the first, second, third and ninth companies, the supply department, the kitchen squad, the medical team, and the recruit company. Except for the personnel on duty at the guard post, everyone hurried to the playground to assemble and stand in line.
Following Yang's order, several regimental guards brought some desks and wooden boards and hastily built a simple wooden platform on the wide side of the playground. Soldiers who came from time to time lined up in the playground and asked each other, are the Japanese coming? Or do they want to make dumplings to improve their lives? What is the purpose of building a wooden platform beside the playground? It seems that they are going to perform a big show? There is a buzz of chatter.
Xiao Hongying lay on her back on the broken bed in the confinement room, with her two messy braids hanging down. She blinked her big, dim eyes and stared blankly at the broken roof.
This time she was really locked up. The window that used to be bright was now nailed shut with twisted wooden boards, leaving a few irregular narrow gaps. The person standing guard outside the door was no longer Xiao Bing, the regiment's guard, but a soldier from the third company. The door was bolted tightly from the outside.
Having been locked up for a day and a night, it became a real confinement. Xiao Hongying didn't understand why the fox liked to stay here? No one would like to stay here. It was nothing but loneliness. Time seemed endless here. She began to miss the lazy pebbles by the river, the free wind on the top of the mountain, and the fox. She was dazed and sad...
Suddenly, she heard a noise coming from the playground. Xiao Hongying took a deep breath through her nose, then got out of bed listlessly, lay on the windowsill, twisted her neck, put her eyes close to the gap between the wooden boards, and tried hard to look at the playground...
The wind seemed to have grown stronger, and the dark clouds seemed to have dropped lower. Large and dense clouds were clustered together, running darkly overhead, endlessly oppressing the eyes of those who looked up.
On the playground paved with loess, in front of the makeshift wooden platform, a crowd of people stood together, quietly waiting for the answer.
Yang Dezhi tightened his collar, straightened his military cap, pushed his glasses on his nose, cleared his throat, walked a few steps onto the wooden platform, put his hands behind his back, and scanned the queue on the playground with a far-sighted attitude, feeling a surge of excitement in his chest.
"Well, comrades, all officers and soldiers, we have gathered here to announce something, to enforce discipline, to cure the sickness and save the army, and to get rid of the dross. What kind of army are we? Hmm? We are the Eighth Route Army, the people's army, the revolutionary army, and the party's army. So our soldiers are proud, proud, brave, and fearless... But today, someone has brought discredit to the Eighth Route Army, deserted, and become a deserter. He is a coward, he is not worthy of being a soldier, and he is even less worthy of being in the Eighth Route Army... We must never tolerate such people, we must use this scum to prove the seriousness of discipline and prove that the Eighth Route Army is an iron army... Bring him up."
The wooden platform was made of tables and wooden boards. It was not very high, and a chair was placed on the side to serve as a step. A figure with his hands tied behind his back took two steps onto the platform before the guards behind him could make a move. He then walked steadily to the center of the platform. Every time he took a step forward, the wooden board creaked clearly.
Amid the repeated creaking of wooden boards, the entire place fell completely silent, shockingly silent, terrifyingly silent.
Luo Fugui in the audience opened his mouth and could not speak. He even forgot to breathe. That firm step, that calm expression, how could it be possible? How could it be possible? Damn it, this must be a dream...
The strange sound of the wooden board disappeared, and the tall figure stood firmly in the middle of the wooden platform. The dark clouds became the huge background behind him, rushing above the wind, like gun smoke... The habitually lowered curly hat brim blocked the light and darkened his eyebrows and eyes. From a distance, only half of his bronze face could be seen...
"Hu Yi, the squad leader of the 9th squad of the independent regiment, is the deserter. He is the one who brought discredit to our entire regiment, the Eighth Route Army, and a coward who is unworthy of being a soldier. He has admitted to his act of desertion, and it is now decided to subject him to military law... to be executed by firing squad..." Instructor Yang's voice floated and echoed on the playground under the dark clouds...
Suddenly, a part of the queue was a bit chaotic. A tall and burly figure pushed the team in front of him and rushed to the front of the wooden platform, shouting in a hoarse voice: "This is impossible. Boss Hu is not a deserter. This is a frame-up. I don't accept it... It's unfair..."
In Luo Fugui's eyes, the Eighth Route Army, the discipline consciousness, and serving the people were not as real as a plate of pickles. At this moment, he didn't know what to say. He panicked and instinctively wanted to rush to the wooden platform to act like a rogue.
Yang Dezhi on the stage saw the bear who wanted to make trouble again, and thought to himself that I haven't settled the score with you for the kitchen team yet, so he pointed at Luo Fugui and shouted, "Why are you still standing there? Lock up the troublemaker!"
The soldiers of the first and second companies looked at their respective company commanders and did not move. A dozen people rushed out of the third company, and in a chaotic manner, they grabbed Luo Fugui by the arms and legs and pinned him down.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Ma Liang rushed to the wooden platform, grabbed the edge of the platform with both hands, looked up and shouted at the person in the middle of the platform in a crying voice: "Brother, why don't you speak? Brother, you are not a deserter, come on and say it... explain it..." Then he was grabbed from behind by several soldiers from the third company. No matter how much Ma Liang shouted and struggled, they pulled and dragged him and Luo Fugui to the woodshed closest to the playground.
The soldier standing in the middle of the stage did not move from beginning to end, and did not even lower his head. He was quiet and did not look at the audience at all. His sight was always looking into the gray distance, watching the direction where the dark clouds were rushing, vast and boundless...
Wu Shitou stood in the team blankly. He just felt that his squad leader was standing very tall, so tall that everyone in the regiment could see him. It seemed that the wind was very strong, and he wondered if the squad leader would be cold.
Liu Jianqiang stood quietly in the team. He couldn't understand why the squad leader could still stand tall and straight in such a situation. This was a very strange feeling. Liu Jianqiang thought he would feel ashamed of this, but surprisingly, he didn't feel ashamed at all. This was not a feeling of smearing.
The third company commander Hao Ping had a positive attitude towards this matter. In his eyes, Yang Dezhi was the protagonist and the third company was in the limelight. As for Hu Yi, he was just an insignificant backward element.
Company commander Wu Yan watched coldly from beginning to end, without saying a word or reacting. This was a matter of discipline, and at least he did not object.
Second Company Commander Gao Yidao had no opinion on the matter, he just watched, because he was too lazy to listen to what the bespectacled pretty boy was shouting, his attention was all on Hu Yi. Hu Zasu seemed to be emitting a certain... This feeling Gao Yidao had also experienced before, before the counter-charge, before the breakout, before the position was about to be lost, this feeling was... the will to die
I really don't understand what this Hu Za Sui is thinking. Isn't he mentally ill? Gao Yidao looked at Yang Dezhi, who was smug on the stage, and then tilted his head to look at Hao Ping, who was shouting and commanding the Third Company to maintain order in the audience. He thought to himself, if Hu Za Sui really wanted to be a deserter, could you catch him? Look at how cowardly you two are. With Hu Za Sui's current behavior, if he is not tied up, if he wants to, he can rush over your paper-made Red Third Company by himself.
The gaps between the planks are small and narrow. You can see the gray sky, the black clouds, and the wind blowing sand across the wooden planks.
The distance was a bit far, and the wooden platform looked small, but that figure... was the fox. Yang Dezhi's voice, accompanied by the sound of the wind, drifted faintly into the confinement room.
The pair of big eyes behind the gap first shone with joy, then were filled with confusion, then surprise, and finally turned into anger.
Bang, bang, bang... The little fists banged on the door loudly. "Open the door quickly, I want to see the fox." Xiao Hongying's voice was crisp and bright behind the door, but the soldiers of the third company outside ignored her.
Bang bang bang "Open it quickly, are you dead? Believe it or not, I will make you pay?" There was no response from outside the door.
Bang bang bang... "You son of a bitch, I'm going to show off my power!"
The gatekeeper was a model soldier specially selected by Yang Dezhi from the third company. Ren Xiaohongying banged harder and harder on the gate, and cursed more and more, but she didn't get any response.
Her fists were swollen from hitting, and her braids finally changed direction helplessly. She climbed onto the windowsill and tried to ravage the wooden boards nailed to the window. She smashed hard regardless of the pain in her hands, and climbed up again and again to kick hard regardless of falling to the ground.
She ignored the scratches on her skin and the broken knees she fell on, repeating the same thing over and over again until she could vaguely hear the voice again: "... Military law enforcement... Execution by firing squad..."
The pair of beautiful eyes finally froze, instantly filled with crystal. The petite body, which had been tossed around dirty and broken, staggered to its feet and rushed to the door again.
Bang! The door of the confinement room was shaken by the young shoulder, and dust fell from the door frame. A sad cry came from the door: "Wu... Please... Open the door..."
Bang—the door slammed again, and the dust that fell was lighter than the last time. "Wuwu... Can you open it only this time... I won't dare to do it again... Wuwu... Can you..."
Bang—this time, there was no more dust on the door frame, but the crying was even more shrill than before. "Wuwu... I have a lot of bullets... Wuwu... I'll give them all to you..."
The wind was howling non-stop, and the door of the confinement room was banging again and again. The sound became smaller and smaller, and the crying became smaller and smaller, gradually drowning out in the wind, but it still repeated endlessly. Outside the door, an Eighth Route Army soldier stood with his chest puffed out, unmoved, and looked around vigilantly...
A beautiful figure stood in the corner of the wooden platform, her short hair was blown up by the cold wind and messed up on her fair face. She didn't want to look at the tall and desolate figure of the soldier on the wooden platform, but she couldn't help looking.
When I first saw him, he was in the door frame, like a picture; he was cold, gloomy and evil, like an unruly wind, savagely blowing, leaving only a faint masculine scent, carving the picture into a scar, forever in the woman's heart. In the night of Shuxia Village, he was also in the door frame, like a painting; he was indifferent, exuding chill in his calmness, like a towering mountain, calmly ignoring everything, leaving only a satisfied smile, solidifying the picture into ink, forever in the woman's heart.
This time, there was no door frame. His background was the vast dark clouds, which were desolate and boundless. He was no longer restrained, and he ran wildly and recklessly, as if he was mocking the countless gazes that looked up at him. He was just like the dark clouds, dark and decadent, but also proud and arrogant. It seemed that he would turn into the dark clouds at any time and be taken away by the dark clouds, or he was waiting to be taken away by the dark clouds and then turn into the dark clouds.
Su Qing's heart gradually began to hurt. She could no longer continue to watch this scene. She began to feel pain for no apparent reason. This pain was not hatred, pity, or sympathy. It was just heartache, but she didn't know why it hurt.
Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this to me? Why are you doing this? This is not the result I want, this is definitely not the result I want. You coward, why are you always torturing me? Devil, deserter, scum, if you are so willing to die, then go and die... The aching woman's heart was screaming hysterically.
The woman tried to look away from the deserter and deliberately looked at the vastness in the distance, but sand got into her eyes. Her cold and beautiful phoenix eyes became moist. She found that the deserter's figure was still in the range of her peripheral vision. She left it there on purpose. She didn't do it... Her white and slender fingers were tightly clenched, her knuckles turned pale, and there were clear blue ink stains between her fingers, one piece after another, like blue flowers...
The wind and sand were rolling, the clouds were dim, and the dense audience stood silently. This environment, this atmosphere, and this feeling made Yang Dezhi very excited. He felt overwhelmed and intoxicated. He felt like a bright light and a god who saved all living beings.
So he kept on being generous, waving his weak arms vigorously, trying to show indignation, trying desperately to turn himself into a ball of fire on the wooden stage, his mouth was dry and sweat was pouring down his head. He was completely unaware that the people standing solemnly in the wind and sand were not looking up at him, but at the deserters beside him and the dark clouds above their heads.
This bastard was originally a reckless person, but I didn't expect him to be so reckless as a deserter. What has this deserter done to you? The soldiers of the second company thought so.
This evil star is born to love to go into the confinement room. You said you ran away, why did you come back? Isn't this too arrogant? The soldiers of the first company thought so.
The instructor was on the stage, and the company commander was below. The soldiers of the third company had nothing to think about. They kept thinking about whether they should applaud in the end. After all, the instructor was exhausted.
The new soldiers just stared at them stupidly. For the first time, they realized that deserters could be proud and could also sacrifice themselves.