There was no more time to build a shooting bunker, and the heavy Type 24 heavy machine gun was inconvenient to move its position. Because of the insufficient covering firepower and insufficient guard force, in order to avoid being conspicuous, Hu Yi did not choose to use the house this time. Instead, he set up the heavy machine gun position in a corner of the courtyard wall facing the southern suburbs, and directly opened a south-facing shooting hole with the machine gun. He also ordered Luo Fugui to use a hammer he found to hammer it slightly, and the shooting range was immediately widened. The inside and outside of the right-angled corners were covered with broken bricks and soil, and the front wall and one side wall formed a semi-enclosed bunker.
The water filled the cooling cylinder, and the plug was tightened. The last few drops of water slid down the machine gun and fell to the ground, leaving clear mud marks outside the cooling cylinder. Mancang left the bucket and looked at the heavy machine gun waiting in a daze. Hu Yi took his position behind the machine gun, put up the sight, and finally said without raising his head: "Go away."
"Actually... I... want to stay here." Mancang continued to be at a loss, kneeling on one knee next to the heavy machine gun, staring blankly at it. Because of adding water to the machine gun, his puppet army uniform was stained with mud: "I can fight the devils... I want to fight the devils. I just... I..."
"Get out." Hu Yi pushed the machine gun handle into position. He said this word lightly, without any emotion. He seemed not to hear what Mancang was mumbling at all. His sight had passed through the sight and the firing hole, and he was quietly staring at the open green in the south. The third company began to break out. Gray figures rose and fell in the green, panicking, embarrassed, and forced to do so. Gradually, they rose and fell into a line, and then into a surface. Gunshots began to sound.
…
The sounds of the battlefield were the most shocking symphony. Ma Liang ran in this symphony, climbing over the wall amid the whistling of bullets, stumbling in the alley amid the explosion of grenades, and the stones thrown up by the shock wave scraped across his body, like shrapnel, tearing his clothes, ripping his skin, and drawing blood. The third company was breaking out, and Hu Yi was using heavy machine guns to cover the third company's breakout, but no one could cover Hu Yi. This made Ma Liang feel deeply painful and powerless. He alone could not build a windbreak wall to the north for Hu Yi.
The position of the fifth platoon of the third company was located on the right wing of the heavy machine gun. Half of the platoon, including the platoon leader, had been lost when they entered the town. They were blocking a few houses and firing sporadically to the south. The replacement platoon leader was designated by Xiao Hongying. He was worrying about the battle in front of him. When he turned around, Ma Liang had just emerged from a cloud of dust.
"Leave two to stand guard fifty meters to the west, and the rest of you follow me to the north, otherwise the Japanese will soon get through!" Ma Liang's shouts were still clear amid the gunfire, with anxiety and arbitrariness, and the expression on that gray face was no longer recognizable.
No one answered, no one was willing to answer, because this was a battle about breaking out, and everyone knew what it meant to turn around and head north into the town at this moment. Also, because Ma Liang was only Ma Liang from the 9th Company, unlike Xiao Hongying who was Xiao Hongying from the Independent Regiment.
The new fifth platoon leader looked around and found that the soldiers' hesitant eyes were converging on him, so he tried to straighten his chest towards Ma Liang and said, "Captain Hu's mission for us is to cover the breakout, and then become the rear guard of the third company and withdraw with them."
"If the heavy machine guns are gone, do you think you will still be able to retreat as the rear guard?"
"Now... I am also a platoon leader."
"You've learned to follow orders? Really?"
One soldier couldn't help but blurt out: "It is a soldier's duty to follow orders. The third company is not the ninth company!"
The gunshots continued, and the crazy roar of the Type 24 heavy machine gun was extremely clear, suppressing the sound of the Type 24 heavy machine gun again and again, making it intermittent and breathless. Ma Liang's knuckles, which were clenched subconsciously, turned white, and he felt breathless, as if he was suffocating. Ma Liang was sad, not for himself; Ma Liang was sad, hating himself for still having a heart, so he felt that he was not as good as Runny Nose, nor as good as Shi Cheng.
So, Ma Liang pounced madly on the soldier who spoke last. He wanted to strangle something to death, either with his own hands or be strangled to death himself.
…
That corner of the wall was constantly hit by bullets, and shallow or deep pits were made on the outer wall, with bullets occasionally making holes in the weak spots; the grenade launcher began to attack fiercely, blowing up the house behind the heavy machine gun. The yard has become a ruin, but the corner of the wall has not collapsed yet. The trumpet-shaped muzzle of the 24 heavy machine gun is still spitting flames crazily in the hole. The dust under the muzzle had long been swept away by the impact airflow, and no large flakes of dust were rolled up with the shooting flames.
Another fierce explosion occurred outside the corner of the wall, and the top of the wall finally collapsed. The dust was hazy and completely stained Luo Fugui's ugly face. His head was smashed by the falling bricks, and he was half covered in blood without knowing it. He was dazed and pulled at a machine gun belt, trying to pull it out from under the collapsed wall. He could not hear anything but his own heartbeat, vibrating.
"Fuck his grandma!" He couldn't hear himself cursing as the ammunition belt suddenly broke, causing the bear to fall and lie in the ashes.
"Go ahead. Go now." Hu Yi behind the machine gun staggered back and finally unjammed the bullet in the barrel. He then pulled a new belt and hung it in the magazine. Then he felt the dust in his throat and his voice became hoarse, and began to cough.
"We won't be so lucky! Next time, we will be killed for sure! Cough cough... Please, please? We have to go! We have to go! Cough..." Luo Fugui was also coughing in the dust, and he was as depressed as ever.
"I told you to go! Are you deaf?" Hu Yi's hoarse voice became louder. He did not realize that the bear was losing his hearing. The heavy machine gun suddenly began to vibrate again, and the shells poured out like a waterfall. The bullet belt that was not handed over by the assistant gunner jumped and rushed towards the bolt, and every inch of it looked very strange.
When the smoke cleared, the sky was still the same. Luo Fugui was still lying on the ground beside the heavy machine gun, looking up: "Boss Hu, I want to run. I will definitely not be able to avoid the next grenade. I know... I want to live a little longer. You can't compare me with yourself. You can't..."
He spoke nonsense, words that he couldn't even hear himself. All his words were drowned out by the crazy noise of the heavy machine gun. Hu Yi couldn't hear it either. He continued to operate the heavy machine gun numbly, continuing to support the battlefield and keep all the gray figures away.
…
Xiao Hongying has a pair of beautiful eyes because they are clear; perhaps because of this, the world in her eyes is the most real.
She had learned to lose long ago, having learned it when she was very young, so she was not good at feeling reluctant, and so she could still sit calmly in the sun, with her back against the mottled grass, in a dirty narrow alley, ignoring the blood by the wall, ignoring the corpses by the ditch, quietly listening to the sound of machine guns in the south, quietly distinguishing, in a trance.
Later, explosions were heard and the sound of heavy machine gun fire stopped. She raised her head and looked south. There was still a mottled wall at the end of the dirty alley. After a while, the heavy machine gun sounded again, so she hugged her knees tightly against her chest again, and looked at the sunlight on the ground quietly, waiting to be lost again.
Later, explosions were heard again and the sound of heavy machine gun fire stopped. She did not move, still waiting quietly, but she never waited for a new round of fire from the heavy machine gun.
Later, she finally gave up and raised her head sharply, transformed into a stubborn wind, heading south, leaving the mottled alley empty in the sunshine.
Gradually, stray bullets began to whiz past. The closer they got, the more determined she became. Her thoughts were simple. She just wanted to die closer to him, closer. Her pigtails began to flutter in the wind.
Gradually, the smoke began to blow in her face, like clouds and fog, engulfing her petite body without hesitation. She became more determined, staggering and jumping up again, with her eyebrows raised, like charging, a lonely charge...