Chen Chong was pessimistic. This was no joke. The platoon leader was actually a little girl playing with sand. This was even more outrageous than the idiot being the platoon leader. If it was in the rear, if it was in an unimportant position, it would be fine. But the enemy's artillery tower could be seen from thirty miles away. It was like standing in front of the enemy, like standing on the front line! Crazy!
It seems that it is precisely because such a girl is the platoon leader that some people in the bunker sleep in broad daylight, and some people are laughing and joking with earth cannons on the nearby river bank. The sound is deafening, and the smoke is floating all over the sky. Even in the wine station, you can hear the soldiers who are firing the cannons laughing and cheering excitedly. This vigilance is really intoxicating. Aren't they afraid of the enemy coming to scout? Isn't this courting death!
Looking around, nine soldiers were wolfing down their food, but Chen Chong couldn't swallow it. These nine soldiers were completely rookies, not to mention going to the battlefield, they hadn't even trained for a few days, and the company commander picked them out for this reason. But even though she had been in the army for a short time, she had at least fought in two small battles and at least began to understand the cruelty of war. They couldn't understand it, and Chen Chong couldn't stand the lazy and suicidal atmosphere of the bar.
He put down his bowl with a sad face, and a chopstick rolled off the bowl and fell on the edge of the table. Chen Chong felt that there were some things that he had to speak out because it concerned everyone's life. If he couldn't change everything, he would take the team back to the company and would never wait to die here.
"Can you please put your chopsticks away?" someone suddenly spoke.
Chen Chong raised her head and found that the ugly soldier who was hosting the dinner was staring at the bowl and chopsticks she had just put down with a suspicious look on his face.
"I'm done eating." Chen Chong said.
"What I'm saying is... you should put your chopsticks in the right place, because it's a pair of chopsticks, not just one." The large scar on his face showed that he seemed to be in a bad mood.
Chen Chong did not move. He felt that this was a naked provocation. After all, he was a squad leader. Although he had just arrived at the ninth platoon, it was not his turn as a cook to bully the newcomers!
A patrolling soldier happened to pass by the wooden table under the big tree and heard the conversation between the two parties. He quickly walked to Chen Chong's side, picked up the fallen chopstick and placed it on the rice bowl, aligning it with the other chopstick.
So the scarred-faced cook turned around and went back to work.
"Isn't your cook too bad-tempered?"
The patrolling soldier smiled and said, "Actually, he has a good temper and doesn't talk much, but he has this weird habit. It's not directed at you, but at the chopsticks."
"Wash the chopsticks?" This reason sounds weird.
"Well, it's hard to explain in a few words. You'll know when you get to know him better. His name is Li Xiang. He's not a cook. He's from the ninth squad. He's in charge of grenade launchers. He used to work in the division's arsenal. He's the most educated in our platoon. Even our evil platoon leader gives him some respect."
Someone in the 9th platoon actually used a grenade launcher? Divisional ordnance? The platoon leader gave up three points? This was unexpected. Chen Chong was so surprised that she couldn't help but look at Li Xiang's back again. It seemed that her small title of squad leader was... shabby. She asked in confusion, "Evil star platoon leader? Just because of that little girl?"
"The girl is now acting as platoon leader. Our platoon leader hasn't come back yet."
Hearing this, he finally felt relieved: "So now besides her, who else in your platoon can take charge?"
The soldier looked at Chen Chong in confusion and said, "Besides the girl... the ninth squad leader Luo Fugui and our first squad leader Shi Cheng."
…
Walking along the riverside and not far from the wine station, I saw five or six people busy around a homemade cannon, cleaning the barrel, filling gunpowder, and twisting the fuse, tinkering with it happily.
One of the young red-faced soldiers accidentally looked up and smiled: "Are you Chen Chong? My name is Shi Cheng. Come on, do you want to try firing a shot? Even though this stupid guy can't shoot far, the noise is really cool!"
Chen Chong smiled awkwardly and shook her head: "Forget it. I just think... the noise is too loud. I think this place... is not far from the Japanese." She didn't dare to express her opinion directly, so she could only stammer and express her views.
"Haha, it's dozens of miles away, it's not a problem." Shi Cheng did not mention that this place had been controlled by the Japanese.
A soldier nearby added with a grin, "Spend a day with the Japanese separated by a wall, and you will know what is near and what is far, hehehe..."
Chen Chong was confused. Staying with the Japanese through the wall for a day? What does that mean? From the tone of your voice... can this place be considered a rear base
I was in a daze when I suddenly heard a loud noise.
Boom! The leaves around them trembled violently, and the ripples on the water surface suddenly shattered. Chen Chong was so frightened that his legs went limp and he fell on the spot. He sat up in a daze, his ears buzzing, and saw thick smoke rising from the muzzle of the gun. Shi Cheng was shouting excitedly, "It's so exciting! Reload! Reload! Another shot! Hahaha..."
This is really crazy! Enough!
…
Unexpectedly, there was a communication trench leading directly to the bunker. Chen Chong, curious, jumped down the trench and walked towards the bunker. As soon as he saw the entrance to the bunker, he heard someone yelling inside: "Fuck his grandma, Shi Cheng is going crazy again! How can I sleep like this? If I don't throw his pile of rotten iron into the river today, I won't be named Luo! Stutter, I tell you, don't stop me!"
"Hey, squad leader, I didn't, didn't, didn't stop you?"
"My... Then can you stop them? Can you pretend to stop them? Isn't it your job to help the squad leader save face? Can it tire you to death?"
"But aren't we just the two of us now? Who, who, who are we going to see when we get down the stairs?"
"Oh? Well... you kid... that makes sense! Haha, hahaha..."
Chen Chong didn't plan to go in after hearing this. Who was this person? She was planning to get to know him and have a chat. But it turned out that this person was the squad leader of Class 9. What else could she say? Just as she was about to turn around, she heard footsteps from inside, and then she saw a giant bear-like guy crouching down and coming out of the bunker.
It was so huge, so tall and so wide, that it blocked out a large area of the sky. Chen Chong, with her neck tilted upward, couldn't help but take a step back.
The giant bear in front of him looked him up and down and asked bluntly, "Are you new here? What are you doing here?"
Chen Chong felt uncomfortable when he heard the word "newcomer". This person was too rude. Facing the oppressive feeling, she tried to straighten her chest and said, "I'm the newcomer, the squad leader, Chen Chong." She originally didn't want to mention the squad leader position, but the other party was impolite, so she had to make him realize that you and I are at the same level and should be more polite when speaking.
From the expression and tone of voice, the bear seemed to be aware of Chen Chong's dissatisfaction. He grinned and said in an ugly way, "Haha, this guy is such a high-ranking official. He came here just to tell me this?"
Is this the Eighth Route Army? Would the Eighth Route Army be like this? Chen Chonglai was angry: "When I came here, I heard someone sleeping here. I wanted to remind them that this is not appropriate. After all, discipline..."
Before Chen Chong could finish her words, the bear interrupted her: "Who do you think you are? Are you taking me for a big deal? You are worse than a runny nose! Let me tell you, new here, in the ninth platoon, the squad leader is shit! We have to rank according to qualifications, understand?"
I had no idea what runny nose meant, I thought it was an insult, Chen Chong's face darkened: "What do you mean by qualification?"
The bear stared at Chen Chong with its unscrupulous eyes, then suddenly asked, "Let me ask you, how many shots have you fired? How many bullets have you fired? Do you dare to tell me?"
"Nineteen rounds, so what?" Having participated in two small-scale battles, Chen Chong was not exaggerating and was being realistic.
The bear instantly showed a contemptuous smile and said to the bunker: "Stutter, give me the machine gun."
With a snap, the bolt was pulled open, and the bear held the machine gun, pointed it toward the side of the open area, and pulled the trigger.
Da da da da…
When the last shell jumped out of the gun, the machine gun was thrown back into Jie Ba's hands. "Now I have fired 20 rounds, what do you say? Hmm? Do you believe that the shells I fired alone can bury you? Do you understand what qualifications are now? What qualifications do you have to talk to me about discipline?"
Luo Fugui was very proud of this, showing off in an arrogant manner, and even boasted about the number of bullets he had fired. When Boss Hu was not at home, who dared to claim to be the best
Chen Chong was dumbfounded. How could it be done like this? How could a magazine be wasted like this? What a waste!
The stutterer at the side couldn't help but say, "Squad leader, this is bad, bad, bad. Something bad is going to happen!"
The complacent Luo Fugui still didn't react: "What happened?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Xiang was seen rushing towards the bunker with a grenade launcher and a soldier on duty.
…
Shi Cheng had given advance notice of the firing, and everyone knew about it. Even if they didn't know, it didn't matter, because the sound of the cannon alone was not an emergency signal, unless the guns and cannons fired together, it meant there was a problem. But the sound of the machine gun was different, because the machine gun was used to guard the bunker, and the bunker was used to defend against invasion. The sound of the machine gun meant that the enemy was coming, or there was an unexpected battle.
As soon as the machine gun sounded, the little girl threw away the shovel in her hand, raised her legs and ran to the south of the wine station, shouting: "Fool, come with me to prepare a raft for everyone! Quick!"
Wu Shitou then chased after the girl.
As soon as the machine gun sounded, Shi Cheng and others who were preparing to load gunpowder into the barrel dropped everything, picked up the rifles on the stand next to them, and ran into the wine station.
While running, Shi Cheng saw the girl and the fool on the beach running to the south. He ordered loudly: "Two people go to help the girl prepare a retreat! The rest of you run to the bunker! Quick, quick, quick!"
As soon as the machine guns sounded, Jiuzhan Village on the other side of the river immediately went into an uproar. Men, women, old and young rushed out of their homes without hesitation and began to move quickly westward along the south bank of the river. No one made a loud noise, no one hesitated, and they supported the elderly and held the children tightly. The rest ignored them and followed the leader to run. Seven or eight militiamen quickly gathered together, supervised the evacuation of the old and young, and then followed behind the team, running while keeping an eye on the situation behind them and on the other side of the river.
Wu Shitou grabbed hold of the heavy raft and gritted his teeth as he desperately pulled it out of the woods and towards the water's edge. The little girl pushed the raft from behind with all her might. Her bare feet were scratched by the broken branches on the ground and bleeding, but she seemed not to feel it and continued to push forward with her braids lifted up.
Two soldiers from the first squad arrived and helped push the raft to the water's edge, then turned around and ran towards the bunker. The little girl rushed into the open space of the wine station and shouted to the nine beggar recruits who had just arrived: "Go to the south to get on the raft and cross the river first, go, hurry up!" The people from the ninth platoon could jump into the river and swim with the current at a critical moment, but these newcomers were definitely landlubbers, so they had to be allowed to leave.
Then he said to Wu Shitou who was following him: "Go and carry the fox's bag!"
Finally, he rushed into his room, took the shoulder bag hanging on the wall, put it on his back, picked up the rifle and ran out. He didn't even look at the messy things in the room. They were all daily necessities or tools. The ammunition had been buried somewhere else some time ago, so he just glanced at the bicycle parked in the house reluctantly and rushed out resolutely.
…
Under the cover of night, a bonfire was burning in the open space of the wine station, and Chen Chong sat in the firelight in a daze. This afternoon was so wonderful, everything was unprecedented, and a glimpse of the whole picture showed that this strange ninth row did not need any command and dispatch, as if everyone knew what they should do, and they did not seem to panic. In terms of decisiveness in dealing with emergencies and the ability to retreat and escape, no one was better than them, so neat!
Not far away, more than a dozen soldiers were moving things. It was said that they were from the second company. In the evening, they escorted ten people to the wine station. The little girl platoon leader was holding a lantern and counting the goods that were about to be taken away by the second company. The sound of conversation could be heard from time to time.
"You guys from the Second Company are too shameless. This is all you can take. Don't even think about taking more!"
"I was talking about giving it to people. Now it's been delivered. It's freshly caught and still warm. What are you dissatisfied with?"
"At the beginning, your company commander and I decided on people who would voluntarily join the army. What are you sending me now? Ten captured bandit prisoners. I have to send people to watch over them and do ideological work on them. Are you so shameless as you?" The little girl sounded very angry.
"Anyway, we are just here to send the people away. If you are not satisfied, you can go and talk to our company commander. If you don't want to do this deal, we can just part ways and we will take the people back. It's up to you." The soldiers of the second company started to act foolishly.
"Do you think I don't want to find him? Why doesn't he dare to come? Please go back and tell him that Gao Yidao is the most shameless bastard in the world!"
Chen Chong was speechless. It seemed that the Ninth Platoon was using all kinds of means to poach people. It was like a human trafficker! This little girl could actually scold a company commander, and the other side's soldiers didn't dare to say a word. What kind of dream was this
There was a loud sound of footsteps. I turned around and saw several soldiers walking out of the darkness. They were covered in dust and had two guns, long and short, and bayonet sheaths on their waists. Their grenade belts were bulging with bullets. The firelight cast a murderous look on their faces.
The person in the lead noticed Chen Chong sitting by the campfire. A trace of confusion flashed across his serious face, so he took a few steps closer to the campfire: "Who are you?"
"Chen Chong from the x regiment, just transferred here to help out this afternoon." Although the man looked dirty, he seemed to have a kind of... murderous aura emanating from him, which made Chen Chong intuitively feel that he was a veteran who must have experienced many battles, so he answered seriously.
"X group? Help?" He frowned, a little short-circuited, but soon changed his expression to one of indifference and said solemnly: "My name is Liu Jianqiang."
At this time, the little girl's voice came over: "Runny Nose, it's just right that you're back, let your second squad lock up these ten people!"
Then he waved to the soldier behind him and walked over to the little girl, asking: "Did the second company really send people here? Girl, can you give me two first..."
"What the hell are they dividing? They just used the prisoners they captured to make up the numbers! The shameless Second Company makes me so angry... None of them are worry-free..."
Chen Chong blinked her eyes and finally understood who the "runny nose" that the squad leader of the ninth squad was talking about in the afternoon was.
As luck would have it, not long after, there was another sound of footsteps, as if someone was walking into the camp. The four squad leaders of the ninth platoon had already seen three of them, so Chen Chong guessed that this time it must be the third squad that had returned, and turned around to look.
Eleven people appeared in a long line, and the little girl couldn't help but shout excitedly: "Hey, Xiaodou, why are you here?"
The leader laughed and said, "Girl, you have to buy me fish soup this time!"
"I'll let you drink as much as you want! Hey, who are they?"
"Ahem, well, the regiment commander said that in view of the special situation of the Ninth Platoon, ten new recruits will be given to you from the regiment, but you are responsible for the weapons, equipment and uniforms. Oh, I am so tired from this journey."
"What?" Liu Jianqiang's voice rang out: "Come on, you can live in our Class 2 first." He began to work on building relationships.
"I'm talking about a runny nose. Have you not made any progress? We haven't eaten yet. How can you sleep? Haha." Xiaodou teased Liu Jianqiang with a smile.
They all came together, and the wine station was in a mess. Since the afternoon, there have been more than 40 people, including ten friendly soldiers, ten new recruits from the regiment, ten bandit captives sent by the second company, ten soldiers from the second company and the regiment's signalman Xiaodou. Li Xiang and Sun Cui were busy at the stove, and the smell of rice filled the air.
Chen Chong looked at the blazing bonfire and listened to the laughter and chattering around her. She couldn't describe the feeling, it was very complicated. Jiupai, the wine station, what kind of place was it
She was in a daze and felt someone appear on the other side of the campfire. Chen Chong raised her head subconsciously and saw a handsome and neat young Eighth Route Army soldier standing opposite her, smiling at her kindly.
"Are you Chen Chong?"
This was the first pleasant smile she had received since entering the bar, and Chen Chong stood up awkwardly: "I am. You..."
"Ma Liang." He took two steps closer and extended his hand.
This was the third squad leader of the ninth platoon. I just couldn't figure out when he came back. I hadn't heard anyone enter the camp since then. How did he appear like a ghost? I was a little confused, but I didn't show it on my face. Chen Chong reached out and shook hands with him. The other party was wearing a clean and neat military uniform, which made Chen Chong, who was in tattered clothes, blush.
From the little girl, to Shi Cheng, to Luo Fugui, and then to Liu Jianqiang, Chen Chong has never felt ashamed. There are many people wearing tattered clothes these days, and who has the leisure to pay attention to these superficial things? But the third squad leader Ma Liang in front of him made Chen Chong ashamed. He finally remembered the military appearance that had been forgotten by most soldiers for a long time.
…
Luo Fugui stood in the waist-deep river water, looked up at the crescent moon that had climbed up to the treetops, and felt a chill.
I couldn't help but ask the potato-like figure standing on the shore: "Are you tired? Hmm? You have to let me eat, right?"
The other party did not move or answer.
"Damn it, you idiot, I'll just go ashore and wait for a while, and then come down, okay?"
The other party did not move or answer.
No matter what, he waded towards the shore. As soon as the water reached his knees, Wu Shitou shouted, "He's on shore!"
There was a rumbling sound of footsteps, and Shi Cheng led a group of people through the woods and appeared on the river bank.
Luo Fugui turned around in panic and ran back into the water for a while before stopping.
"Mule, a man should take responsibility for his actions. If you come up and let us vent our anger, we'll be fine. Otherwise, you can hide until dawn and we'll keep you company!" Shi Cheng stood on the shore and shouted into the water.
"Damn it, what military rule is this about twenty lashes of cane? Are you really going to follow that damn girl just because she said that? Why should I take it!"
"Who can you blame? So many people have been talking nonsense with you. The old, weak, and sick people on the other side have run more than 30 miles. How many people have been exhausted in one round trip? Even if the platoon leader comes back, you won't be well. It would be strange if he doesn't kick you to death!"
…