In the sunshine, Ding Deyi walked out of the door of the medical team. His smiling face immediately turned solemn again. He stopped at the empty playground, staring at the flat and empty yellow earth in a daze.
Every morning, the recruits had to go behind the mountain to dig caves to store food and supplies, and they only trained for half a day in the afternoon.
Three days ago, the second company carried the wounded back. Those wounded were not only from the second company, but also from the first and third companies, including Liu Jianqiang.
The distance to the division hospital was too far, and not every seriously injured soldier could be sent to the division on the spot like Hu Yi, so they could only be sent back to the independent regiment medical team to wait for death. Hu Yi was not special than others, just because he was in the independent ninth squad, and this decision was made by the ninth squad themselves, and it was the ninth squad's own business.
A night battle in Lingtou Village resulted in the loss of half of a Japanese squadron of nearly 200 people. The Japanese were really hurt. The main force finally left the city. Now the first and third companies are still dragging them around, and the plan of cutting off the source of the problem has been realized.
So far, the first company has lost one-third of its troops; the third company has lost one-third of its troops, with seven soldiers killed or wounded at the hands of the ninth squad; the second company has lost more than half of its troops, with the heaviest casualties, due to the madman Gao Yidao who wanted to fight the Japanese head-on, and the whole battle was caused by this.
If we look at the ratio, although the scale of this night battle was small, the ratio of casualties between the independent regiment and the Japanese reached one to one. If the casualties of the puppet army were added, it was almost a great victory, almost a miracle, but Ding Deyi could not be happy, because the independent regiment was too small, and a hundred casualties were equivalent to a serious illness. The Japanese casualties of a hundred in Meixian were painful, and the Japanese were too lazy to look at the casualties of the puppet army; the independent regiment's casualties were painful to the bone marrow, so how could Ding Deyi be happy
In addition, these nearly one hundred Japanese casualties were not caused by battle arrangements, but by accident and pure luck. No one could have expected that several people in the Ninth Squad would dare to take such a big risk and almost wipe out a small team of Japanese. This was a miracle and a fluke, otherwise the Second Company would have been destroyed.
Ding Deyi blamed himself for always wanting to take the overall situation into consideration and taking care of all aspects. He did not lead the team into battle, nor did he appoint a commander. He only gave Wu Yan the right to command on the spot. Having a general but no commander led to the three companies fighting on their own, which almost caused a disaster. It was so dangerous.
During these three days, I would come to the medical team to visit the wounded every day, to see how many young faces had been killed, and to pray that they could survive. The blood of the soldiers who had shed would turn into gold, and one recovered soldier was better than ten new recruits. Although it was cruel, it was reality.
Ding Deyi looked at the yellow earth under his feet, and slowly took steps, one step, two steps, towards the middle of the empty playground under the sun. The guard did not follow him, but stood at the edge of the playground with his hands hanging down, silently watching the vicissitudes of the political commissar's back, hunched under the dazzling sun.
Not counting places that are far away, there are two huge soapberry trees in Dabei Village, one grows in the yard of Class 9's residence, and the other grows by the Hunshui River not far to the south. Not only are these two trees both soapberry trees, they also have two things in common: they are both tall and dense, and both are solitary.
A female Eighth Route Army soldier stood quietly under a solitary soapberry tree, watching the clear muddy river flowing quietly in the sunshine, making her beautiful back look lonely.
The breeze from the river bank sometimes blows by, making the neck-length hair flutter and the lush leaves on the trees rustle.
He came to this place unknowingly. In his spare time, he only appeared in two places, one was the confinement room, and the other was here.
I don't know why I came here, maybe I just want to know why he is willing to stay here.
There is only one tree and one river here.
But once you stop here, you don't want to go any further. You just want to watch the river flow quietly and endlessly.
Only when you have hated someone do you know that hatred is the greatest torture in the world. The other person's face will be deeply engraved in your heart, even every hair will be engraved extremely clearly, and you will never forget it, whether awake or in a dream.
He did it for the little girl, and he might be dead now, or die tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. After listening to Liu Jianqiang's description, Kuihua said that he had little chance and would not come back.
The grudge has been settled in the heavy rain, and we are strangers now, but why can't I let it go until now? Why does my heart still hurt? Why
Tears began to flow uncontrollably, and no matter how hard I tried to stop them, they still flowed silently.
"You got what you wanted, you despicable, selfish, shameless deserter. Now you got what you wanted... Feel proud of yourself. I will always look down on you, forever... forever... forever..."
A faint and mournful cry echoed on both sides of the river. A lonely beautiful figure sat down under a lonely tree, sitting in the wind. The echo gradually disappeared in the silence under the sun.
The new recruits, who had worked all morning, came back and poured into the kitchen compound. The compound immediately became bustling and noisy under the sun.
A dozen new recruits had just sat down around a table when Wang Xiaosan approached them with a rag in his hand and a dark face, and said angrily, "Get up!"
The recruits were confused: "What's going on?"
"What's the matter? This is Class 9's place, not for you." Wang Xiaosan started to raise his eyebrows angrily.
"They haven't come back yet. They let us sit there two days ago. Why can't we sit there today?"
"I am unhappy today. I just want to leave this table empty until they come back and you can't get up?" Wang Xiaosan's tone became heavier and heavier. Holding a rag, he began to sternly point fingers at the new recruits sitting at the table. It was obvious that he was ready to take the initiative to make mistakes.
The other cooks who were busy in the yard were silent, doing their own thing. They knew that Wang Xiaosan had the best relationship with Class 9. After three days, there was still no news about Class Leader Hu, so he was probably not doing well. Wang Xiaosan had been getting angry for a long time and was showing signs of losing control of his emotions.
The recruits did not dare to continue to argue and left their positions angrily. The long dining table of Class 9 was empty again.
"Hehe, who are you trying to show off to? There's no need for you to work hard anymore, just go back to your room and rest." Uncle Niu's loud shout came from the side room.
Wang Xiaosan threw the rag on the table of Class 9 and went back to the house with his head down, but the new recruits still didn't dare to sit there.
"Even if they have a good relationship, they can't be so blatant, right? He's really outrageous. What's going on? We'll go find the political commissar and report him later." A new soldier looked at Wang Xiaosan's back and muttered to the people around him.
"What the hell, I heard that the top nine squad killed more Japanese this time, and the political commissar probably wants to praise him too late, how can you be glorious by reporting him?"
"Team Nine killed the most? How many people are there?"
"This is true, don't disbelieve it. From what I heard, Team Nine seems to have killed thirty devils."
Another recruit immediately interjected, "Get lost, you are also a person who listens to lies. My fellow villager is from the Second Company, and he told me the real number. This time, we killed 100 Japanese soldiers. The Second Company killed about 30, the First Company killed 20, and the Third Company killed only puppet troops."
"And what about the rest?"
"You're just a blockhead, what do you think?"
"Ah? How is this possible? You must be kidding!" The audience at the same table all stared in disbelief.
With two loud bangs, the two doors of the kitchen compound were pushed open, and thirty or forty soldiers from the second company came in with their heads held high. As the supply department had been busy with the transfer of supplies in the past few days, the soldiers from the second company, who had been back for three days, had not yet been replenished with new uniforms. They were still wearing the ones they wore after the battle, which were tattered and smoked. Anyway, they had to wait for a change, so they were too lazy to mend or wash them for the time being. They were dressed in black and looked like a group of beggars, but in the eyes of everyone, they looked murderous. Against the backdrop of the neat uniforms of the new recruits in the yard, this sense of coldness doubled, and it was simply not enough to describe it.
Although not as ostentatious as the 9th squad, the 2nd company also had its own eating place in the kitchen compound. When the new recruits saw these fierce men coming in, they immediately stood up and vacated the 2nd company's place.
When passing by the empty table of Class Nine, Gao Yidao could not help but glance at the table. Without stopping, he went to the Second Company, where he sat down with a big horse and a golden sword, looking intimidating without even showing any anger.
For a moment, the voices in the yard became much lower, and the noisy chatter turned into whispers.
"Hey, where's Wang Xiaosan?"
Every time he entered the door, he could hear Wang Xiaosan greeting him with a smile. But today, this was missing. Gao Yidao suddenly felt a little uncomfortable and asked the cook who was passing by.
"Uh... Oh, he had a stomachache and went back to his room to rest."
Gao Yidao nodded, took the dishes and chopsticks handed to him by his subordinate, and accidentally saw someone walking in through the door.
He was broad-shouldered and tall, as sturdy as a bear, with his shoelaces and leggings all covered in mud. His body was covered in dirt, and there was a faint trace of blood stains, which made his uniform indescribable. It was yellow, black, gray, and brown, as if you could smell the blood from ten feet away. The people in the second company at least washed their faces, but if you didn't look at the figure of the man who just walked in, his face was so dirty that you couldn't tell. You could only see that his expression was tired, depressed, and gloomy.
"Class Nine..." someone exclaimed in surprise.
Next came Ma Liang, and then Wu Shitou. Apart from their different body shapes, they all looked equally dirty, covered in blood and mud. Their expressions were the same, as they walked woodenly into the yard, towards the only empty table.
The three of them were driven back by Dean Chen. They went to the regiment headquarters and reported the situation to the political commissar. Hu Yi had an operation to remove the shrapnel, but he became inflamed and infected and remained in a coma. It was estimated that it would be difficult for him to survive. Political Commissar Ding Deyi said nothing after hearing this and forced the three of them to go to the kitchen to eat first.
The yard fell silent. The three of them sat in the old seat of Class 9 in full view of everyone. They said nothing and stared at the empty long table in a daze.
For the first time in his life, Luo Fugui didn't feel hungry, even though he had just finished a long journey. He just felt empty inside. His parents died early, and he was a small man. In order to eat and survive, he had to face countless cold stares and ridicules along the way. He was born with an insecure sense. He met Boss Hu in his life. Although the days were short, he felt at ease.
Boss Hu is like a house, sheltering from the wind and rain. He always likes to kick me, but that feeling is different from being bullied by others. I am willing to take it, addicted, and feel warm in my heart. They say he is cold, selfish and unkind, and they say he only spoils the little girl. In fact, he also spoils me, but now... the house is about to collapse.
Boss Hu is an evil star, how could he die? How dare the little devil catch him? Luo Fugui was entangled in his wild thoughts, and he didn't realize that Uncle Niu had come over to question Ma Liang, and Wang Xiaosan had also come.
"You are a soldier, you carry guns, and you kill devils. You are such a coward for killing one bastard. So many people died. How can you say his life is more valuable than anyone else's? You are such a coward!"
Luo Fugui heard this sentence without hearing other words. He raised his head and met Gao Yidao's dark face.
Ma Liang stood up and said, "Gao Yidao, you have to be conscientious when you speak. The squad leader is trying to help your Second Company..."
"If he helps, I'll say so. If he doesn't help, I'll say so too. What are you yelling about? You three are useless. If my soldiers see you, I won't beat you to death. Do you think you have the right to yell at me?"
As soon as Gao Yidao finished speaking, Luo Fugui yelled angrily: "Fuck your grandma!"
Immediately afterwards, the table shook and the benches flipped over, and a bear jumped up violently and pounced on Gao Yidao...