In the afternoon, ten soldiers carrying hoes walked into the wine station, tiredly put down their tools, took off their military uniforms, and ran straight to the river, enjoying the coolness heartily, talking and laughing and playing in the water. This was the first squad of the ninth platoon.
Several soldiers were on the beach, practicing crawling and throwing grenades over and over again, sweating profusely. From time to time, someone looked into the river with envy. They were the second squad of the ninth platoon.
On the river bank to the west of the wine station, several soldiers were sitting idly by the river, each holding a fishing rod. They were blinded by the afternoon sun and were fishing with a dry mouth. One soldier couldn't help it and asked the one next to him, "Squad leader, can I have a drink of water?"
"If this were a battlefield and if you were in hiding, drinking a sip of water would cost the lives of the entire platoon. Would you drink it?" The person asking the question was squad leader Ma Liang.
"Then... How can I drink it!"
"That's good to know. When the five of you have caught enough fish together, you can rest."
"But... this is not a battlefield."
"I once ran eighty miles along a mountain road overnight with an empty water bottle on my back. That was not a battlefield, but just for a message."
The soldier was speechless. He licked his cracked lips and continued fishing, secretly vowing in his heart that he would never fish again in his life.
Under the shade of the tree in the middle of the clearing, the sweaty little girl finally finished the last stroke of the painting, and then asked proudly behind her: "Silly boy, what do you think? Huh?"
Wu Shitou stared at the wooden boards for a long time before saying, "The pancake is good, but there are not enough sesame seeds."
The pigtails drooped down on the spot: "What the hell! I drew a fox! Can't you see that? Do you have eyes?"
"It's obviously a sesame seed bun." Wu Shitou firmly believed that this was the case.
"He has small eyes. Will it look like him if I draw him bigger?" The little girl became a little angry.
“It’s a sesame seed cake.”
“Shaobing, shaobing, you only know shaobing. I’ll beat you into a shaobing…” The little girl couldn’t stand it anymore and was sweating profusely, no longer hiding her fierce side.
Now that Hu Yi, the leader of the ninth platoon, is gone, squads one, two, three, and nine immediately become independent, and except for the shifts and work they are supposed to do, they do not interfere with each other and each is responsible for their own affairs. Liu Jianqiang leads squad two to carry forward the spirit of hard training, Ma Liang leads squad three to carry out what he believes is a correct scientific training plan, Shi Cheng's buddy squad one becomes a rare vacation, and squad nine... is still squad nine.
The fate of the five new laborers did not change because of the beach meeting in the morning. Because the meeting on the beach did not reach any results, they were still non-staff members. Which squad they would be assigned to could only be determined after the platoon leader came back. So they took over the work of building houses and worked hard to build the platoon headquarters and warehouse of the ninth platoon.
On the north side, bursts of snoring were heard from the bunker. Mr. Luo Fugui, the deputy squad leader of Class 9, was still sleeping on his nap.
Li Xiang, who was sitting in the bunker, suddenly saw a figure appear in the open space ahead, and hurriedly pushed the bear who was sleeping beside him.
The bear suddenly jumped up, grabbed the machine gun, and said incoherently: "Damn it, the Japs are coming again?"
"No...the Japs." Li Xiang explained helplessly.
"Then why are you calling me?" He looked outside in dissatisfaction: "Huh? Why is Director Su here?"
…
Soldiers from each class hurried to the open space of the wine station, ready to assemble.
The little girl grabbed the communicator Xiaodou and asked, "Why is she here?"
Xiaodou saw Officer Su standing at the edge of the open space with a serious face, waiting for the team to gather, and two guards standing beside him, so he whispered: "This is a big deal, did you hurt four civilians? Officer Su is here to investigate this matter."
"Ah?" The pair of beautiful eyes froze for a moment, and then they reacted and asked anxiously, "Where's the fox?"
"He's been put in solitary confinement. What to do with him will be determined after the investigation."
After the battle, she had forgotten about this matter. Now she finally realized that the situation was not good. Xiao Hongying cursed herself for being heartless and forgetting such a big thing. Although she was young, she knew that this matter was not small. Even if the Ninth Platoon made a contribution, Fox might be expelled from the Eighth Route Army. Her eyebrows frowned. What should she do
The annoying Secretary Su is here now, and the team is gathering. It's too late to do anything now, but we still have to do what we need to do. If we can't do it secretly, then we'll have to do it openly!
He ran back to the house, tied his leggings, put on the small military jacket that he had left in the house because he felt too hot, tied the belt neatly around his waist, took off the military cap that was covered with dust because he didn't wear it often, patted it, blew it, and put it on carefully. A pair of small braids were tied behind his head. He squeezed the brim of the hat like a fox, making it curl slightly. After thinking for a while, he walked to the bicycle placed in the house, untied a piece of red silk decorated on the handlebars, tied it on his left sleeve, and finally stood up straight, glanced at himself from head to toe, and walked to the door with his head held high.
In the open space, the ninth platoon had already lined up. The squad leader Shi Cheng took over the organization work and trotted to Officer Su, standing at attention and saluting: "Report. The ninth platoon has assembled."
Li Xiang was on duty in the bunker. It didn't matter whether the little girl joined the queue or not. Everyone was there except these two. Su Qing nodded, then walked to the front of the queue with a serious face.
"I came here this time to investigate the events in the Yamaguchi battle. I must first state that this is the decision of the organization. I hope that each of you will take a correct stand and seek truth from facts..."
"Wait!" A voice interrupted Su Qing.
Everyone at the scene looked in the direction of the sound. It was the little Eighth Route Army soldier, the little red tassel, and the rare sight of her fully equipped. She was different, and the most peculiar thing was that she had tied a red silk on her left arm, which was so red that it dazzled the eyes in the sun. It should be a manifestation of determination, but no one knew what determination it was.
The petite Eighth Route Army soldier walked to the front of the line step by step. Her shoes were small and her steps were small, but she walked with heroic spirit and pride, firmly attracting everyone's attention and following her. The whole scene suddenly became solemn, as if the line was standing for her.
His little eyebrows were tightly knitted, his big eyes were full of tenacity, he stared straight ahead without turning away, stood in front of the team, and tried to open his little voice: "Without Fox, there would be no Class 9! Without Fox, there would be no Platoon 9! Today I want to see who is my comrade-in-arms who fought in the same blood with me, and who is the soldier of Platoon 9!"
This feels very strange. How could she be a child? How could she be a bad girl? This is not her, this is the platoon leader. Leadership has nothing to do with age or gender. It is just a kind of charm and a rare existence.
This felt very strange. She had only said such a simple sentence, and all the people in the ninth row had already straightened their chests unconsciously and fell silent. Although the figure in front of the queue was petite, she suddenly had a huge halo around her, covering the venue and the ninth row. Now everyone knew what her determination was.
The signalman Xiaodou and the two guards were all stunned. They had only seen this kind of solemnity in the queue in the past. It was brought to the second company by the fierce general Gao Yidao. They didn't expect that the ninth platoon also had it, and it actually came from her, the youngest. The contrast was too strong, and no one would believe it if they told others about it.
Su Qing seemed to be calmly looking at the petite figure in front of her, but her heart was actually in turmoil. The little girl was really a soldier, and could become an excellent soldier, just like her platoon leader. At this moment, she finally understood why the political commissar and the regiment commander occasionally sighed: How great it would be if she was a boy!
After being slapped by this girl, there was no point in saying anything more. Her original intention was good, but this would only make things more troublesome. Su Qing thought about it quickly and decided to change the way to proceed. So he asked the petite figure in front of him calmly: "Are you done?"
"I'm done, go ahead and talk." She glanced proudly at the queue in front of her without even turning her head.
With such a wicked girl standing here who was determined to retaliate, it was useless to say anything. Su Qing said nothing and directly ordered the team to disband and continue to do their own things.
Then he ordered Shi Cheng to vacate a wooden house to use as a temporary office; ordered two guards to stand guard outside the wooden house and prevent anyone from approaching; and all the people in the ninth row went into the wooden house one by one to answer questions without worrying about being heard by others, and strived to make their testimonies as objective and accurate as possible.
Kicking the sand angrily, raising a cloud of dust, the little girl looked at the wooden house that had been put on alert, and finally couldn't help blurting out three words: "Fox spirit!"
…
Question: “Where were you at the time?”
A soldier from the second squad answered: "Right wing, on the north side. Our second squad's mission at that time was to get close to the campfire."
Ask: "Do you know where the other classes are? Can you see them?"
Answer: "According to the platoon leader's arrangement, the third squad is probably in the front of the left wing, the first squad is in the middle and the ninth squad should be behind our second squad. We can't see them because we are all in the dark and not too close."
…
Question: "Your squad 3 was the closest at the time. You saw the civilians being injured, right? What did you hear at the time? The sound of gunfire?"
A soldier from the third squad answered: "They were standing in the firelight and saw it. At that time, Xu Xiao was shooting in the artillery tower with a Type 38 rifle. The puppet army was shooting all the time, and there were several explosions of hand grenades and hand grenades. It was quite chaotic at the time."
Question: "Some people said that they heard the sound of Type 38 rifles firing. Did you hear it?"
A: “Yes.”
Question: "Can you tell where to shoot?"
Answer: "On the one hand, Xu Xiao is using it, and on the other hand, we can only hear that it is coming from the back, and the exact location cannot be determined."
Question: "How many Type 38 rifles were there in the ninth platoon?"
Answer: "Eight teams in class one and one team in class nine."
…
Question: "After the four civilians were injured, did you hear what your platoon leader said?"
A soldier from squad 1 answered: "The platoon leader said that anyone who dares to get one step closer to them will be the fifth one."
Question: "Did you see the platoon leader fire his gun?"
A: “How could it be possible to see the situation at that time?”
Question: "Did you shoot at that time? I'm not asking who you shot, just whether you shot?"
A: “No.”
Question: "So is there anyone in your squad shooting?"
A: "Probably not. We stopped shooting when the human wall started to approach us."
Question: "Don't say vague things, that can't be used as testimony. Be accurate. Are you sure that no one in your squad fired a shot during that period?"
Answer: "At that time... our squad was a scattered firing line. I think... we should not have..."
Q: "Okay, put your handprint here. You can go out now and call the next one."
…
Question: "How far away was your platoon leader from you at the time?"
Luo Fugui replied: "It was pitch black and I couldn't see clearly."
Question: "How far is Xiao Hongying from you?"
A: "I can't even see the platoon leader, let alone her. Besides, I'm a machine gunner, why would I look at them?"
…
Question: "Li Xiang said that the Type 38 rifle was in your hand at the time, is that right?"
Xiao Hongying tilted her face and answered reluctantly, "That's right."
Question: “Has it always been in your hands?”
A: "Of course."
Question: "Were you shooting when the civilian was injured?"
A: “No.”
Ask: “Are you sure?”
He replied impatiently: "Just ask me how long it takes me to fire a shot! The bolt is so heavy, how can I knock down four people in such a short time? Don't you think too highly of me?"
…
Question: “Were you standing in the human wall?”
The civilian who had just joined the ninth platoon answered, “Yes.”
Question: "Can you tell where the shots that injured people came from?"
Answer: "At that time... I was scared. There were gunshots coming from the artillery tower behind me. The puppet soldiers kept firing their guns. I really couldn't... The firelight was shining... Everything was dark... I even... didn't dare to open my eyes..."
…
Question: "How did you get captured?"
The wounded puppet soldier answered: "I was hit on the shoulder. There was a hole in it. I didn't follow him. I didn't follow him."
Q: "You guys were shooting all the time?"
Answer: "Well. If we don't take down the turret, how can we do that? Where can we hide?"
Question: "Did you shoot at the civilians?"
Answer: "No, if I did, they wouldn't get up if I shot them. But I didn't shoot, so it's none of my business if I did."
…
The testimonies were recorded one by one, and everyone in the ninth row was included, including the five civilian laborers who had just joined the group and a detained wounded puppet soldier. Each testimony was fingerprinted by the person being questioned.
Su Qing began to write down the results of the investigation: First, it is certain that the platoon leader Hu Yi used words to intimidate the civilians. Second, due to the limited environment, there is limited accurate evidence and it is impossible to determine what kind of weapon the civilians were injured with. Third, all the testimonies cannot determine who fired the gun, and it cannot be identified as Hu Yi. Fourth, the puppet army may also have injured people.
It is speculated that the situation reported by the 9th Platoon Leader Hu Yi was that the battlefield environment was chaotic at the time, and the 9th Platoon Leader Hu Yi thought that the civilians were injured by the 9th Platoon, so he took the blame on himself and tried to protect his subordinates.